The Senior Project...

So I know there's been a lot of discussion at the school, district and classroom level about the senior project, but for me, it's about to get worse.

My district is proposing tabling the SP for 2 years due to budget concerns and because they can't afford to keep people in the position of grad project coordinator when they need teachers in the classroom. Of course, I don't have a coordinator--I AM the coordinator.

So, here's the problem: My school (A PLC) requires a graduation project apart from the county standards. It's part of the model of our school. However, if none of the other schools require it and we do, we won't be getting or keeping students and we won't be graduating anyone. (That's the whole point of our school--to increase graduation rates)

Anyway, I've already had calls from parents (whose kids aren't doing well in the project this semester) saying that it's not fair and blah blah blah. I'm already frustrated and realizing that I'm going to have to revamp my entire curriculum over the summer.

My biggest frustration is, that while I'm not a fan of all aspects of the grad project, it certainly provides a level of preparation that students would not have been forced to encounter prior. I plan on implementing a senior English paper, which is pretty standard I think, and perhaps a service learning project.