The school committee has recently proposed a new change in the tech graduation requirement. It will remove the technology credit from the graduation requirements for next year. This policy will go into effect during the 2022-2023 school year.

The technology credit won’t be removed but changed into an elective credit.

Students who have already taken a technology elective will not lose their credits nor will have to retake them. These classes will be automatically transferred into elective credits if the policy passes. This change was passed because since the current generation has already grown up alongside technology most students are already skilled at handling technology.

“There’s really no disadvantage because you [WA students] are already really tech-savvy,” principal James Antonelli said. “We are still going to have technology courses for students who want to focus on tech classes and want to pursue technology in the future they still can.”

This allows students will have more flexibility in their course choices and takes a load off the pressure to fulfill all the requirements needed to graduate. However, the total number of required credits will remain the same to prevent students from losing a class completely.

“This [policy change] has gone past due,” Antonelli said. “What we want to do is provide students with more flexibility and give students more of an opportunity to take some other electives.”

The school committee will vote to pass or veto the policy during the meeting on January 10, 2022.