I dug up SFUSD board policy [1] around failing notifications. The policy reads:
"Whenever it becomes evident to a teacher that a student is in danger of failing a course, the teacher shall arrange a conference with the student's parent/guardian or send the parent/guardian a written report. The refusal of the parent to attend the conference, or to respond to the written report, shall not preclude failing the pupil at the end of the grading period. (Education Code 49067)"
The policy clearly states that the student has to be "in danger of failing a course" and not "guaranteed to fail a course". But, if a teacher knows that they might fail a student, they must notify parents by some reasonable deadline (again, it seems that OP's school sets it by week 9 of the semester or by the mid-semester mark). Without this notification, they might not be able to fail a student because they weren't in compliance with the CA ed code and district policy. This becomes even more of an issue when HS graduation is concerned.
I don't know if the forms are new or not. The policy was last updated in 2017 so they are at least 4 years old. What what is worth, I filled out similar forms when I was a teacher 10 years ago in another part of CA, so I suspect that they have been around for longer than that (and the forms were mass produced on carbon paper slips that seemed printed in the 70s). I am also wondering if the word "guaranteed" came up in response to COVID-related changes to grading policies and the district having implemented a credit/no credit grading system.
The policy doesn't surprise me, but it does sadden me. Why should the failure be contingent on trying to have a meeting with the parents? I always get the feeling there's more paperwork in CA than any of the other states.
"Whenever it becomes evident to a teacher that a student is in danger of failing a course, the teacher shall arrange a conference with the student's parent/guardian or send the parent/guardian a written report. The refusal of the parent to attend the conference, or to respond to the written report, shall not preclude failing the pupil at the end of the grading period. (Education Code 49067)"
The policy clearly states that the student has to be "in danger of failing a course" and not "guaranteed to fail a course". But, if a teacher knows that they might fail a student, they must notify parents by some reasonable deadline (again, it seems that OP's school sets it by week 9 of the semester or by the mid-semester mark). Without this notification, they might not be able to fail a student because they weren't in compliance with the CA ed code and district policy. This becomes even more of an issue when HS graduation is concerned.
I don't know if the forms are new or not. The policy was last updated in 2017 so they are at least 4 years old. What what is worth, I filled out similar forms when I was a teacher 10 years ago in another part of CA, so I suspect that they have been around for longer than that (and the forms were mass produced on carbon paper slips that seemed printed in the 70s). I am also wondering if the word "guaranteed" came up in response to COVID-related changes to grading policies and the district having implemented a credit/no credit grading system.
Links:
[1] Board policy 5121 cf. 6154 para. 4: https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/sfusd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=AKG...