RUMFORD – Students at Mountain Valley High School will have to achieve a 2.75 average – roughly a C-plus – next year in order to graduate, up from 2.0, or C- average, now.

Even with the lower expectations for this year’s graduating class, about 20 seniors are in jeopardy of not graduating with their classmates during the June 7 event.

Those were a few of the figures high school Principal Matt Gilbert shared with the SAD 43 board during Monday’s regular meeting.

Superintendent Jim Hodgkin said traditionally there is a certain percentage of students who barely meet standards, regardless of how high or low they are. When the school required a 1.5 average to graduate, about 20 students struggled to march with their classmates.

The 2.75 grade is just below meeting state standards, Hodgkin said.

The higher requirements will go into effect during the next school year. Eligibility for sports will follow the 2.0 average during the first six weeks of the new school year, then the higher grade point average will go into effect at the beginning of the second term.

Gilbert said the 20 in jeopardy are being monitored and their parents or guardians have been notified.

“There will be other interventions during the last couple of weeks of school,” he said. “They have four weeks to bring up their grades.”

The final number of students who won’t graduate won’t be known until a few days before graduation, he said.

He said monitoring students in jeopardy of not graduating with their class begins during the summer between their junior and senior years when a credit check is made. Meetings are arranged with a guidance counselor, and if necessary, classes outside the high school – online, through Region 9, or some other source – are set up for the student.

In a related matter, Gilbert told the board that the high school set up a special drug awareness forum for parents and guardians for 5:30 p.m., Monday, May 19, in Room 302 of the high school.

He said the special session will include information from the Rumford Police Department and other agencies on what to look for in students who may be using drugs. Gilbert said the decision to offer such a forum came about because of discussions with social worker Rick Greene, and the tendency for some students to get involved in drugs during the end of their high school career.

Following the public portion of the meeting, board members held two closed sessions. The first was with athletic director John Bernard and Mountain Valley Middle School Principal Ryan Casey to discuss a personnel matter. The second was with a middle school boy and his parents to take up an expulsion hearing.