This letter is a petition to grant all North Carolina Public School System students the CHOICE to receive a final letter grade for the Spring 2020 semester OR receive a pass/fail.  Many students around the state are being forced to erase their hard earned grades by being pushed into a pass/fail system. During this difficult time, everyone is making much needed sacrifices.  We, as students, should not have to make the additional and unnecessary sacrifice of not being able to show our best possible GPA on our high school transcript. The decision made by many North Carolina counties to move to a pass/fail system has presented a number of challenges to those students who are performing well.  For example:

• Colleges will be unable to see how students performed during the Spring 2020 semester, especially for difficult Honors and AP courses. 
• Public schools in many other states, as well as private schools within NC, have made the decision to record grades.  Therefore, giving them a distinct advantage over many NC public school students when applying to colleges. 
• Some students may potentially lose scholarship money and/or qualification due to a missed opportunity to raise their GPA.  This point is VERY IMPORTANT as some students MUST have scholarship money in order to afford to be able to go to college.
• Even though roughly 50% of the school year was complete, 100% of the hard-earned grades would taken away.

NCDPI says that in order to award grades, every student must have an equal opportunity to earn them.  Every North Carolina student had an equal opportunity to attend school and earn grades through at least the beginning of March.  Enabling every county in North Carolina to have the OPTION for students to retain at least their grade through March would not put any student at a disadvantage. The pass/fail option would still be there for those who choose it, as it certainly still needs to be an option for many student circumstances.  The UNC school system has made this exact choice available to it’s students, allowing them to choose between grades and pass/fail. Shouldn’t we NC high school students have the same option?

I believe I speak on behalf of a large number of fellow students across the state who have worked extremely hard to achieve the grades they have earned. Giving them the option to record these grades would validate their hard work and increase their likelihood of being accepted into colleges and to earn scholarships.  The NC State Board of Education says in it’s vision statement that it wants every public school student in North Carolina to be “prepared to pursue their chosen path after graduating high school”. I call upon the NC State Board of Education to allow us to decide individually as students whether presenting letter grades or pass/fail grades on our transcript will best prepare us to pursue our chosen paths.  Flexibility is essential during this difficult and unprecedented time. There is no “one size fits all”. These are our grades, our lives, and we know which option is best for our future. Please, do not decide for us and allow this crisis to affect our hopes and dreams as students.

Emma Rae Fornes

Apex High School

Class of 2022