Wiscasset will seek a two-year delay on new high school graduation rules. If the Maine Department of Education grants the request, this year’s seventh grade, the class of 2020, will be the first that the town needs to graduate with proficiency-based diplomas. Otherwise, this year’s ninth grade, the class of 2018, will be the first.

The delay would not put off the work the school is doing on the new system that gives students choices in how they learn and how they show what they’ve learned, Wiscasset High School Principal Cheri Towle said. Changes are already under way and will continue, whether or not the town gets the extension, Towle told the committee.

“It doesn’t mean we stop the progress,” she said.

The extension would give school staff some breathing room on the transition, including work on policies to comply with the state’s new rules, Towle said.

“Just to have that extra time in that tool belt I think is a good thing,” she said. It would also help students adjust to the changes from how their coursework has occurred in their prior school years, she said. ”Part of it is changing the culture of learning.”

No opposition came from committee members or attendees at Thursday’s committee meeting in the high school library.

The application for the delay is due in to the state by Nov. 15. The extension is not automatic, Towle said. She could know the outcome of the request within several weeks, she said.

The move to a proficiency-based diploma could up the school’s graduation rate by giving students options including taking pieces that they are missing from a course rather than retaking the whole course; and the changes will better prepare students for the changing demands of today’s workplace, Towle has said.

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