Mat-Su tightens grad ceremony rules for homeschoolers, ends principal discretion

What you need to know: 

• Mat-Su homeschool students finishing their senior year this year do not need special permission from a school principal to participate in graduation festivities at any of the district's schools, as long as they meet certain in-person class benchmarks.
• Starting in 2027, homeschool students who want to participate in a graduation ceremony at a school outside their boundary area must attend at least two in-person classes there per semester throughout all four years of high school. Students who want to participate at their boundary school can qualify by taking two courses in their final semester. Mat-Su Middle College students will be required to join that school’s ceremony only.
• Homeschool students who want to participate in brick-and-mortar school graduation festivities must also earn at least the district’s standard 25.5-credit diploma and be enrolled in a Mat-Su homeschool program. Sports do not count toward course requirements. The changes follow parent concerns that the previous system was inconsistent and unfair because it allowed principals to decide participation on a case-by-case basis.

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PALMER – Homeschool students who earn the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District’s standard diploma and complete a series of in-person classes at one of the area’s high schools can participate in that school’s graduation festivities under a policy update announced Friday, with the rules for which students can take part set to narrow dramatically next year.

A previous version of the policy allowed principals at each district high school to decide on a case-by-case basis whether such homeschool students could participate, so long as they completed a class there for at least six of their eight high school semesters.

The update shifts that allowance to a districtwide standard, removing oversight from the school level and allowing all homeschool students who meet the six-semester benchmark to participate this year, district officials announced last week.

But starting next year, a related policy update announced last month tightens class participation requirements, more than doubling the number of classes many homeschool students must take in person before they can take part in a brick-and-mortar school’s ceremony outside their boundary area, and extending the requirement over four years, according to district documents. 

Rather than six total semesters, they must take at least two classes per semester at a single school of their choosing over each semester of their high school years, the policy states.

Students who want to participate in the ceremony at their boundary school instead of a school outside their assigned area can qualify by enrolling in at least two courses for their final semester only, it states.

The updates also affect students who switch to Mat-Su Middle College after their freshman year to complete high school while also earning college credits, the document states. The previous policy allowed those students to choose between the ceremony at their initial school or the one hosted at the Middle College. The new update requires them to participate in the Middle College ceremony only.

Participation in school sports does not count toward the course tally under both the current and previous policies, district officials said. Students must also earn at least the district’s standard 25.5-credit diploma offered by the brick-and-mortar schools, not the less rigorous Choice diploma available only to homeschool students.

Homeschool students who want to participate must also be enrolled in a Mat-Su program, such as Mat-Su Central, not one managed by an outside district, such as IDEA, officials said. High school students who move their registration to Mat-Su from another district can participate in a specific school’s ceremony as long as they immediately start taking classes there, the policy states.

Students who want to participate in a graduation ceremony this year must submit an Intent to Participate in the Graduation Ceremony form to the school by March 16, district officials said.

Officials initially set the class participation changes for this year, a move that outraged some parents whose students were told they could participate in upcoming ceremonies, only to have that permission revoked under the new policy. District officials announced the compromise policy, which revokes principal discretion but allows students with six semesters of classes to participate, in an email sent Friday to parents of high school seniors.

Parents initially asked the district to update the rule that left graduation participation up to principals because they said it created a system that seemed arbitrary and unfair.

Under the previous policy, students governed by one principal were allowed to participate, while those led by another were not, despite meeting the same requirements, parent Jason Ortiz told the school board during public comment late last year.

District officials used the update process to change participation standards, not just whether principals have the final say over their ceremonies, as a way to ensure students are meeting the district’s academic standards, they said.

“The intent of the update is to remove the ambiguity of discretion and to recognize the prolific choices students and families have while honoring the rigor of our various requirements and diploma types,” Associate Superintendent for Instruction Reese Everett said in a statement. “The update gives students and families choices, as long as they meet the requirements of the updated administrative regulation.”

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com

Correction: The headline on this story was updated Feb. 17 to remove a typo.