Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced in a news conference today that all Texas schools will be closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year. Although schools are closed, modified business operations and remote instruction will continue for students and staff for the remainder of the school year. The last day of school in Lamar CISD is Thursday, June 4, 2020.

We understand this has been a challenging time for the Lamar CISD community and today’s announcement will bring additional questions. Please be assured that during the closure, we’ll be in contact with state and local officials and we will continue to keep the community updated.

Please continue to visit the District’s COVID-19 webpage for the latest information on Lamar CISD’s response. The Texas Education Agency will provide additional guidance on graduation and we will be sending additional information as soon as those discussions take place.

Grading Policy

Over the past few weeks, students have participated in online learning opportunities to help review prior content. Thank you to all the teachers, parents and students who have come together to make this unique and challenging learning experience possible. The District is now entering Phase II of the remote learning plan.

In Phase II, teachers will continue to engage students in remote learning opportunities weekly through Canvas. Additionally, you can expect the weekly lessons to include introduction of new content, an opportunity to practice the skills introduced and student assignments.

Six minor grades will be recorded throughout the final grading period, one for each core subject. The time allotted should not require more than 30 minutes of work per day for students in each content course. However, time requirements will be adjusted based on the age of students.

During last night’s Board meeting, the Board of Trustees approved a temporary change in the grading system as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak and the transition to remote instruction.

For the final grading period, numerical grades for students will be replaced with “Satisfactory (S),” indicating achievement is within the range of expectations for the student’s age and grade placement, “Needs Improvement (N),” indicating the student is having difficulty in the skill areas marked, or “Incomplete (I),” indicating the student did not participate or turn in the assignment. Students will have the opportunity to make up any “Incomplete” assignments throughout the remote learning process.

The following is a summary of the grading guidelines for the final grading period. You can find detailed grading information and expectations on the District’s COVID-19 webpage:

• Elementary - Promotion and grade-level advancement will be based on the numeric grades from the first three grading periods and considerations of proficiency of the TEKS demonstrated during the fourth grading period;
• Middle School and Junior High - Promotion and grade-level advancement will be based on the numeric grades from the first five grading periods and considerations of proficiency of the TEKS demonstrated during the sixth grading period;
• High School - Promotion and grade-level advancement will be based on the numeric grades from the first five grading periods and considerations of proficiency of the TEKS demonstrated during the sixth grading period.
  • For grades 9-11, grades earned in the second semester of the 2019-2020 academic year will not be included in GPA calculations.
  • For seniors, grades gathered through the fourth six weeks will be used to determine GPA, final class rank and honors.
  • At the end of the final six weeks grading period, the grades “Satisfactory (S)” or “Needs Improvement (N)” will be reported as a numerical grade for all high school credit courses, with “Satisfactory (S)” being 100 percent and “Needs Improvement (N)” being 69 percent.

We realize this is a time of uncertainty for our families and we’re all doing our best to make this new reality work for our students. If you have questions or concerns regarding the grading policy, or if you feel like you don’t have the necessary resources to be successful, please contact your campus principal by email.

Thank you for your continued patience and support as we work to best serve the needs of our students during these unprecedented circumstances.