Senior passes will be available starting Fall 2016! Principal Oryla Wiedoeft has given next year’s seniors who qualify the privilege to leave campus during lunch.

To obtain a senior pass for the Fall 2016 semester, there are three requirements:
(1) The student must have a 3.0 unweighted GPA in the spring semester of their junior year.
(2) The student must complete all sections of the Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBACs) that will be given this spring. For students who do not meet the GPA requirement, if he or she has at least a 2.75 GPA and attains “meets” standards on the English and Math sections of the SBAC, he or she can earn a pass.
(3) The last requirement is good attendance. This means no more than total of five absences to any one class in the previous semester and no more than five tardies total, and no more than three tardies to any one class.

Students will need to reapply for Spring 2017 lunch passes using attendance and grade data from Fall 2016.

Senior lunch passes have not been available at Venice for several years. Dr. Wiedoeft said that she met with the Class of 2017 and they requested senior lunch privileges.

“The behavior, attendance, grades, of our students merits them earning this privilege,” stated Dr. Wiedoeft.

Dr. Wiedoeft said she wants to reward hardworking seniors. “We don’t do enough to make the kids feel appreciated.”

The Class of 2017 has created posters that have been put up around school to promote the passes.

Junior Bryan Godfrey, who is planning to get a pass, thinks they’re a good idea.

“It’s gonna be awesome for us to be able to leave campus,” said Godfrey. “But I don’t like how the school is making us take the Smarter Balance test and have a cer- tain GPA to get one. I don’t feel it’s necessary to put that on kids.”

Eager to receive his pass, Godfrey started to think about where he could go with the off-campus pass and finally said, “Anywhere I wanna go.”