Encouraging students to serve their community is now a Washington law for school districts.

The South Whidbey School District is considering such a policy in the wake of legislation adopted this year that requires districts to have a community service incentive policy.

The school board will discuss the proposed policy at a workshop at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28 in the board meeting room at South Whidbey Academy, formerly South Whidbey Primary School.

The address is 5476 S. Maxwelton Road, Langley.

Students may earn a varsity letter for 145 hours of community service between April 1 and April 30 of the following year. Of the total hour requirement, 50 must be non-school-related work with a nonprofit or civic service and at least one school-related requirement.

To earn the letter, students must have a 2.0-grade-point average prior to participating. Gold, silver or bronze certificates of merit may be bestowed to students who volunteer as another incentive.

The policy’s procedure allows the district to add other incentive programs, including class credit, a class on volunteering and adding volunteer hours as a graduation requirement.