La Salle-Peru High School approves new final exam waiver proposal

La Salle-Peru High School students who meet eligibility requirements may qualify for final exam waivers after the board approved a new proposal during Wednesday night’s meeting.

Superintendent Steven Wrobleski said the requirements would not diminish academic standards but would be a “lever” for students to make improvements.

“I think it’s a meaningful incentive for students,” he said. “We looked at what could be an immediate action that we could implement that could have a real positive gain.”

Board member Rose Marie Lynch said the attendance requirement is three or fewer absences, and the academic requirement is an 80% or higher, which is an A or a B.

“Additionally, seniors would be exempt from finals in each area of the SAT of which they score a meets or exceeds standard,” she said. “And if they meet or exceed in two SAT areas, they would be eligible for final exam exemptions in all of their classes.”

Lynch said the rationale behind the proposal is to encourage good grades and attendance. She said L-P offered a final exam waiver previously but “abandoned” it a few years ago.

“[That was] when there was a lot of emphasis and focus on final exams in college,” she said. “Since then, methods at all levels of evaluating academic success have evolved and changed, and that results in a lot less focus on traditional final exams.”

Wrobleski and Lynch said attendance dropped after the board revoked the previous final exam waiver.

Wrobleski said this will go into effect this semester, and before the end of the week, a message would go out to L-P families explaining the waiver.

“We are looking to use this coming Monday as the official start date for tracking attendance,” he said. “We’re not going to hold anyone’s attendance against them from the start of this semester.”