Emergency Waiver Program for Class of 2021

03/26/2021

Back to Blog

WEA and the Association of Washington School Principals co-hosted a webinar with the State Board of Education this week to review the emergency rules allowing school districts to waive certain graduation requirements for individual students due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The emergency rules apply immediately to the graduating Class of 2021.

The webinar covered the emergency rules, including existing high school graduation requiremnets, existing ways to support seniors and how to apply for emergency waivers. If you are wondering about the Washington State History and Civics requirement, the answer is:

Civics, taught as a stand-alone course for credit, may be waived under this emergency waiver program.

Under existing law, districts may waive Washington State History for juniors or seniors who took a state history course in another state, or who missed taking Washington State History because of residing outside of Washington, or other circumstance due to an emergency (WAC 180-51-210) for districts that are implementing the 24-credit graduation requirements.

Current middle school students who miss completing Washington State History because of school closures cannot use the current emergency waiver. Addressing the needs of students in the classes beyond the current year’s graduating class is ongoing work of the State Board of Education, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and local districts.

Review slides from the March 24 webinar.