An informational meeting will be held at Benicia High School on Monday to address the planned graduation requirements for the classes of 2022 and beyond, particularly its potential impact on art and elective requirements.

At the March 15 meeting, the school board discussed a new set of graduation requirements that allocated a number of elective units to be built into the requirements to more closely resemble the A-G system at UCs. For instance, students are currently required to take two years of science with any science classes being taken after biology counting toward elective units. Beginning with the class of 2022—the current crop of seventh-graders—, students will be required to take three years of science. Likewise, current students must fulfill either one year of either a foreign language, or a visual or performing art. Under the new graduation requirements, students would have to take two years of the same foreign language plus one year of a visual or performing art, although per state law, it may be substituted for a Career Technical Education course.

As is currently the case, students will be required to complete 220 units, five for each semester completed. However, the amount of elective requirements will decrease from 75 to 35, which has caused some concerns in the community. Among the issues raised on social media were the potential decreased elective opportunities for freshmen and sophomores, providing fun classes for students not planning to attend a four-year college after graduating and how it could potentially impact students in dance, drama, band or art.

An informational meeting was organized by Students of Performing Arts (SoPA) and Panther Band Boosters parents to have an open discussion on the implications of the requirements and provide the opportunity to have questions answered.

Drama teacher Nathan Day said the goal was to inform the community of what the new graduation requirements are.

“It hasn’t really been given out to the community,” he said. “It’s just an informational meeting to let people know what the district has done, to tell them that the graduation requirements have changed and this is what they are.”

“We didn’t know that this had happened, as teachers, and a lot of people didn’t know,” he added. “It’s just getting the information out there and letting them make their own opinions about what these requirements are.”

Principal Brianna Kleinschmidt felt that a lot of the information being circulated on social media was misleading and clarified that the school is not planning to cut programs.

“We fully support our programs and will continue to do so,” she said.

Kleinschmidt said the new requirements were a culmination of getting feedback from department chairs, researching surrounding districts and working with Liberty High School as well as the counseling and special education departments.

Kleinschmidt also noted that while there are numerically fewer elective requirements, it is a result of redistributing those requirements to new required courses.

“On its face, it looks like a reduction but it’s because some of the electives are now built into the graduation requirements,” she said. “In addition to the students who take six classes all four years, which they have to do, and they pass all of those classes, they earn more than the 220 required graduation credits. They actually would end up with 240, so there’s more elective space in there than is reflected in the graduation requirements.”

Kleinschmidt said the idea was to give students another opportunity to retake a class without disrupting their path toward graduation. However, art teacher Dan Frazier was concerned that the decision was made without much input from faculty or parents and that the allocations would limit options for those who enter high school without knowing what their post-graduation plans are.

“How many 13 to 18-year-olds do you know that know what they want to do for the rest of their lives?” he wrote in an emailed letter to the Herald. “Did you? I sure didn’t. Students that need to explore different subjects— and who doesn’t?— will be locked out of the higher elective courses for lack of available units to spend. My best students are in musical theater and AP Studio Art, advanced robotics and Art 2. In fact it was these interconnections that made our program certifiably one of the best in the state.”

Frazier felt that a hard focus on UC requirements could lead to a cancellation of art and trade classes if students are busy fulfilling other requirements. However, Kleinschmidt said the number of electives on the master schedule in any given year is reflective of the student population and what courses they request.

“Some years, students might request more of one elective than another for whatever reason and we do our best to incorporate that into the master schedule,” she said.

Kleinschmidt also noted that a goal was to eliminate the “either/or” notion for foreign languages and fine arts outlined in the current graduation requirements.

“We think both are important,” she said. “We want all our students to have the opportunity to explore and experience and from their freshman year, put thought into the courses that they’re choosing and how that will create a path for them through high school to look into their possible career interests and passions and either continue to develop their areas of talent or find their areas of talent.”

Kleinschmidt said part of the reason the district chose to start the new graduation requirements with the current seventh graders was to allow time to prepare for and respond to concerns, something she hopes to do at the meeting Monday.

Another concern being addressed on social media was that no Measure S money was being allocated to repair safety issues in the PAB. Superintendent Charles Young said the fixes to the theater building were a possibility for the second phase of Measure S projects, but the district was still talking with the sites about the best ways to allocate the remaining bond money. An update on the Measure S money to date as well as potential projects for the next phase are slated to be on the agenda for the June 15 school board meeting.

Day hopes a lot of questions are asked and answered at Monday’s meeting as information is presented and the experience is cordial for all.

“I’m hoping it’s positive,” he said.

The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m., Monday, May 22 in the BHS Performing Arts Building, located at 1101 Military West.