Community Service

Table of Contents

What is Community Service?

Community Service is defined by this Task Force as “volunteer service beyond the traditional classroom that fosters civic and social responsibility for the benefit of the community that is neither paid for, graded, nor punitive.”


The Community Service Task Force is comprised of a mixture of social science teachers, counselors, and administrators from the district who meet regularly to review and revise the SUHSD community service requirement.

The Task Force agrees that the intent of the requirement is to encourage students to be active and engaged members of their communities and to address important community issues. Service can unite neighbors, mobilize volunteers and encourage a lifelong ethic of public participation, and is best performed in conjunction with a reputable public service organization.  This Task Force would encourage students to volunteer more than the 30 hour minimum graduation requirement.


To these ends, the new guidelines (Revised 1/2009) for what qualifies as community service for the district graduation requirement have become more explicit.  However, it is impossible to develop a list of acceptable and unacceptable activities that is all inclusive.  Therefore, it is imperative that the requirement for all activities to be approved in advance by the Social Science teacher and parent be followed explicitly.  Credit for service hours will be denied if the student fails to get an activity approved in advance

Comm Service Form Revised .pdf
community service extra.pdf

Community Service Requirement

SUHSD Administrative Regulation 6146.1(a) requires that a minimum of 30 hours of non-paid community service to be performed by students as part of their graduation.  Each date of community service must be documented on the SUHSD Community Service Verification Form and/or Verification Log. requirements.

PLEASE NOTE: As of December 2020 – Updated Community Service Hours required for high school graduation are as follows:

For Class of 2025 & beyond:
SUHSD requires that a minimum of 30 hours of non-paid community service to be performed by students as part of their graduation requirements.

Suggested schedule for completion of Community Service Hours 


Criteria

Is the activity in question servicing the community in which the student lives and works (or goes to school), and not simply servicing the school or a class or an individual related to that school?  Is the student really doing community service, or is the student doing “school service” camouflaged as community service?  How exactly is the student helping said community?

Guidelines

When a student does something for a school band, for example, in a parade on Saturday, and it seems to NOT violate any of the NO’s (not graded, off-campus, not during school hours), the question to ask is, “Does the student have the option of not going and saying, ‘I don’t feel like performing today in the parade, or I don’t care to go to this event?’”  If the student has the explicit freedom (with no repercussion or pressure) to NOT participate, then it is voluntary.  However, if a student MUST be there (even though it is not graded, etc., or mandated), then it is NOT voluntary. VOLUNTEERism is the core element.

Examples of Community Service

Examples of What Community Service is NOT

Volunteer Guidelines











Community Service Guidelines revised August 2023.docx (1).pdf

Community Resources

SUHSD COMMUNITY RESOURCES GUIDE