20-year-olds could return to high school

MAT-SU -- Mat-Su Borough School Board members unanimously voted at their Sept. 22 meeting to allow students over the age of 20 to request further educational services in the school district, such as further classroom attendance, tutorials or other educational options.

According to the new policy, the chief school administrator could deny a request if he determined it would not serve the best interest of the student or the district. School Board President Mike Chmielewski said the new policy is meant to allow certain students the chance to finish school and graduate if they need a little more time.

Students over the state school-age limit of 20 years might request a return to school for several reasons. Some may have passed the High School Graduation Qualifying Exam but failed to earn the credits necessary to receive a school diploma. In these cases students could ask to re-enroll in certain classes to earn the credits lacking for graduation.

Previously, the borough operated solely under the Alaska state law which stated that students are school-age so long as they are under the age of 20 and have not yet completed the 12th grade.

Even though students over the age of 20 now have the possibility of further schooling in the district, the borough will not receive state funding for their education and so they may be charged tuition for classes and services.

Other individuals who earned all the credits necessary for a high school diploma but failed the state graduation exam may ask to receive additional tutoring through the school district before taking the exam again.

Individuals may retake the test as many times as they choose, but the district reserves the right to charge them for testing, under certain circumstances.

According to Chmielewski, deciding whether to charge for tuition or testing is a judgment call that depends on the individuals' situations and range of services they may require.

"At this point we want to get a sense of who is going to be requesting these services," Chmielewski said. "We will determine, as time goes along, whether or not this policy needs to be more specific."

In conjunction with the new school-age policy, the board also voted to allow individuals who have earned all of their high school credits but failed the graduation exam to retake the portions of the exam they failed, at no extra charge.

Those wanting to retake the graduation exam must submit a request, in writing, to the Department of Instruction, no less than three weeks before exam day.

If the individual successfully passes the exam, the district would then issue that person a diploma if he received his certificate of achievement from a Mat-Su Borough school. If the student attended school in another district, he would have to submit the exam results to his district in order to receive a diploma.

Last year was the first time students had to pass the High School Graduation Qualifying Exam in order to graduate. In the Mat-Su Borough, 72 seniors failed at least one portion of the three-part exam and received a certificate of achievement instead of a high school diploma.

"We are just now starting to see and feel the reality of high-stakes testing," Chmielewski said.

The borough's new school-age policy has no bearing on state law regarding the maximum school-age for special education students. Under state law, special education students are eligible to receive state funding until the school year in which they turned 22 is completed.

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.