SVUSD Asks Whether Community Service Should be Required for a High School Diploma

The Saddleback Valley Unified School District’s board of trustees said Tuesday that it wants to hear from high school students about whether to change a requirement that they perform community service to graduate.

High school students must complete a total of 8 hours of community service to graduate from Saddleback Valley high schools under the current policy.

The school board voted to keep the community service requirement as is at its board meeting Tuesday night. But the board also asked new student trustee Kaitlyn Hieb, a student at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, to gather input from students and parents about whether it ought to be changed.

Only half of the school districts in Orange County require any community service hours to get a high school diploma, said board president Susie S. Swartz. Of those that do, she said, some require as much as 40 hours during a student’s four years in high school.

“Do we really need this requirement at all, or should we require even more hours? Should our students be required to reflect on their service in some meaningful way?” said Swartz.

Swartz added that some people have raised concerns that, especially in the sour economy, some teens are now working part-time jobs to help support their families, and that increasing the number of community service hours they have to complete could be a burden to their families.