Westfield High Seniors Allowed to Skip Finals

Westfield High School moved towards more formal a practice of allowing seniors to skip taking the final exam in a class if they meet required conditions.

The school has had a pilot program for a couple years and “it’s been very successful,” Board of Education member Alice Hunnicutt told the board at Tuesday’s meeting. 

Students, inundated by class work, their senior project, extracurricular activities, and preparing to go to college, had proposed the idea to ease at least one requirement before graduating. 

“It’s something the students really asked for and wanted as a reflection of all their hard work throughout the years,” Hunnicutt said.

To be exempt from a course’s final, student must maintain an average grade of A for the year, have no grade lower than a B, and hove no in-school or out-of-school suspensions, among other requirements.

One parent had asked board vice president Julia Walker whether that shortchanges a student from the skill of preparing for a comprehensive exam, she said. But the board agreed that if a student meets all those other requirements, it demonstrates their ability to take tests, including in prior grades.

The Westfield School District board will have to formally seek public comment before approving the practice.