DRIFTING IN HIGH SCHOOL MAY END; PROPOSED POLICY CALLS FOR PROGRESS OR PENALTY.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Students who try to coast through high school without earning the proper number of credits toward graduation will face early consequences under a new regulation being considered by school officials.

Freshman and sophomores who fall behind in credits will be placed on academic probation and required to take make-up classes, while lagging juniors and seniors will face placement in a continuation school.

``This clearly delineates they are going to be required to perform so they are not disappointed, come graduation day, that they are not graduating because they haven't achieved. Sitting in a chair is not enough. When they come to school, they (must) come to school prepared to work.''

The Antelope Valley Union High School District board is scheduled to take action July 1 on the new regulation, which, if approved, would take effect next school year.

The proposed policy came about after board members noted during expulsion hearings the dearth of academic credits earned by some students. They saw a link between bad behavior and poor grades.

Trustee Steve Landaker said some students have attended high school for two years without earning any academic credits.

``We should have been more strict a long time ago,'' Landaker said.

Before this proposal, the district policy has been that students had a right to be in high school and a right to fail, said Deputy Superintendent Ray Monti.

``You could stay there without any consequences other than that you had failed. Now the board is saying they don't want that. They don't want students floating through four years of high school,'' Monti said.

The proposed policy calls for students to maintain a normal rate of progress in earning credits, Monti said.

Freshmen and sophomores who are five or more credits behind in classes required for graduation, or behind more than 10 elective credits, would be placed on academic probation.

Students placed on academic probation would be notified in writing at the end of a semester. Students and their parents would be required to sign contracts obligating the students to make up work in summer school, after-school classes, Saturday classes or other programs.

Juniors and seniors who have failed to earn a targeted number of credits would be transferred to the district's continuation school, Desert Winds High School, or to one of its satellite campuses.

``Students who do not accept responsibility for their academic progress by the end of the second year in high school will forfeit the privilege to remain at a comprehensive high school,'' the proposed new regulation says.

In addition, students who fail a class required for graduation during a school year would not be allowed to take the next course in the sequence until the failure was made up. For example, a student could not take English 10 before both semesters of English 9 have been passed.

Students could not enroll in elective classes if enrolled in graduation-required courses that they had previously failed.

Students would not be promoted to the next grade until they passed all classes required at the previous level. For example, a ninth-grader who fails a semester of English 9, Healthful Living or science - all required for graduation - would not be promoted to the 10th grade until those failures have been made up.