Contentious DUSD Board Vote On Grading Follows Student Outcry

DUBLIN, CA — On Wednesday the Dublin Unified School District Board of Trustees voted to institute a credit/no credit grading system for high schoolers' second semester, reversing a Tuesday evening vote that most students felt was not in their best interest.

On Tuesday the board voted down a resolution to modify grading standards for all students during the second semester of the school year, as distance learning continues amid the new coronavirus pandemic. High schoolers would receive a credit/no credit grade for each of their classes.

This was a point of contention among trustees. The discussion carried on until 11:30 p.m., at which point the meeting recessed until Wednesday.

Critics of the mandatory credit/no credit system felt hardworking students should have the option of receiving letter grades for college admissions purposes and that the most equitable choice would be to give students the option of a choosing a system that worked best for them. Supporters of the resolution worried that disadvantaged students who opted to receive credit/no credit grades could be unfairly reprimanded during the college admissions process.

A poll subsequently sent to Dublin High students asked them if they'd prefer to have a mandatory credit/no credit system or the option of receiving letter grades. Three in four students chose the former.

Meanwhile students circulated a petition calling for the credit/no credit grading system. More than 1,900 people had signed the petition as of Thursday.

When the board reconvened Wednesday, members discussed a change proposed by President Dan Cherrier that would move away from the mandatory credit/no credit system and give students the option of receiving letter grades. Tempers flared during the discussion, with some board members calling each other out by name.

"It was a really emotionally charged meeting," said student representative Tinni Mukherjee, who was in support of mandating the credit/no credit system. "It honestly seemed like we weren't really listening to each other, and more importantly, like we weren't really listening to the students."

Hundreds of students wrote in to trustees after Tuesday's meeting and hundreds more contacted Mukherjee on social media, she said. Several students called her, expressing concerns about how making letter grades optional could impact their changes to get into colleges.

As the board's student representative, Mukherjee doesn't get to vote, but she does get to state and explain her preference before board members vote.

When it seemed to her like the board would once more vote against the mandatory credit/no credit system, she voiced her objection.

"You are voting against the best interest of students," she said during the meeting. "Students have voted, they've written to you, they've done everything they can."

Board members ultimately voted down the amendment to allow letter grades and passed the original resolution to institute credit/no credit grades on a 5-1 vote.

"Even though it happened at the last minute, it demonstrated that we as a board are committed to students," Mukherjee said. "It takes a lot of courage to be a voice, it takes even more courage to be humble, to sit down and listen with an open mind."

Members of the community lauded Mukherjee for sticking up for the majority of students.

"It was a concise, economical moment of genius demonstrated by our student representative, Tinni Mukherjee," wrote Michael Utsumi on Facebook. "This was a moment that provides so much optimism for our future as we try to sort out what resembles normal anymore moving forward."

The resolution also set standards for elementary and middle schoolers.

Middle school students will use a pass/no pass system and middle schoolers taking high school level classes will receive credit/no credit grades.

Elementary school students will only receive comments from teachers on a standards-based report card, according to the resolution.

Watch Wednesday's meeting here.

Read the resolution here: