Dear Royals Family,
We are now in the final few weeks of the academic year; AP exams begin on Monday and Final exams, projects, and other assessments have been developed by instructors. Students should be learning about these culminating assignments in the coming days. We will celebrate Memorial Day on Monday, May 25th, the last day of instruction will be Wednesday, May 27th and Final exams for most students will begin on Friday, May 29th. In some classes Final Exams (or their equivalent) may occur earlier than the date posted in the calendar but no Final should extend beyond the posted date of that subject test in the calendar. Final Semester grades will post during the week of June 8th. In short, we are able to see the end of this semester approaching.
Regarding Semester Grades, we understand the enormous social and economic upheaval of the past several weeks. While we all can appreciate that the academic experience at MCP over this time has been a source of considerable stability and appropriate challenge for our students, we are also aware that our approach to semester grades should be temporarily amended to reflect these unprecedented circumstances.
After many weeks of prayerful reflection as a staff, we have arrived at the approach to second semester grades that honors our commitment to a culture of both “care and accountability,"-- a culture that truly distinguishes the MCP experience from any other high school. Our amended approach for this semester is also in line with recent decisions by the University of California system and many other highly regarded academic institutions.
For this semester, in any given class, letter grades from A+ to C- will be posted based upon a student’s corresponding level mastery over the entire semester of coursework (January 5th through June 3rd, the last day of Final Exams). However, in the case of any student whose work over this semester results in a grade below C- the posted grade will either be “P” (for ‘pass’) or “NP” (for ‘no pass’) for that course.
This hybrid approach (both letter grades as well as P/NP) offers a significant advantage. Mission Prep students will continue to achieve grade points for grades A+ to C- and students who have struggled significantly under these extreme circumstances may still post a grade of “P”. A grade of “P” will include the full units for the semester but will not be included in the GPA at any time (now or in the future). Any grade of “NP” will be reflective of unsatisfactory levels of mastery for the entire semester, not just the final eight weeks.
If you have questions, please contact Brock Thoene, Director of Curriculum and Counseling, at [email protected].
We continue to negotiate our graduation plans with the local authorities and we remain hopeful that a gathering of students and families will happen. As you can imagine, with conditions continuing to evolve we must endure this process of proposal/discussion/revision. We appreciate your patience and, as all of our senior parents can understand, we are just as eager to ‘get this decided!’ However, we truly believe that the hope for a real gathering, on June 5th, is something worth holding on to for a few more days.
Next Tuesday, May 12th we will host two very important events. Our monthly school-wide mass was originally scheduled for this date and we are keeping this event! Fr. Gabriel Okafor will celebrate mass, streamed live from Old Mission San Luis Obispo and we are hoping that our entire community will tune in to Facebook or Instagram Live to be in community as we celebrate our last school-wide, student mass of the year.
Also on the 12th will be the first of three Zoom, ‘town hall’ style information sessions for all incoming parents of the MCP class of 2024. These sessions will begin at 6pm and each of the three events will have a different focus: general institutional and academic information on the 12th, athletics and co-curricular programs on the 20th, and a new-student, town hall on the 27th (specifically intended for incoming 9th graders). All of these sessions will begin at 6pm and the Zoom connection will be sent by email to all incoming families.
As we conclude this week of appreciation for our teachers, please know that we also continue to value and honor the partnership between school and home. This is the foundation for anything that we accomplish in raising these daughters and sons to the persons that God has called them to become. Please do reach out and thank our instructors and please continue to spread the word about what is, hands down, the best high school education available in this community.
Enjoy a Happy Mother’s Day on Sunday and remain steadfast in faith. There will be an after to this crisis and WeWill arrive there as a community.
Yours in Christ,
Mike Susank
Principal