NEW YORK - The New York City Department of Education last week floated a new grading policy to accommodate the disruptions caused by the pandemic: students in kindergarten through eighth grade would be graded either satisfactory or needs improvement. For high schoolers, failing grades would be recorded only as "incomplete."

Some parents are organizing, demanding changes to the proposal. Mayor Bill de Blasio says a final policy will be announced this week.

"I will say of course the voices of the advocates and every stakeholder is listened to," De Blasio said.

Some parents see the proposed grading system as too lenient. One parent leader says the city should continue the traditional grading system but let students drop their lowest grade in any marking period, so kids struggling with remote learning are not penalized.

"Let's give the flexibility for families for teachers to consider dropping the lowest marking period but still maintaining what students have actually done in the first six months of the school year," said Yiatin Chu, Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education.

A different coalition argues the DOE should go further -- promote all students, graduate all high school seniors, and not grade elementary students. City Councilman Mark Treyger supports the idea, citing anecdotes he's heard from educators.

"A student had to log off from the day to care for a loved one that was very sick and they had to call the ambulance. How do you deal with -- how do you assign a grade for that trauma? I’ve gotten some, you know, feedback from parents very concerned about what this means because they want their kids to get an A and I fully appreciate and understand that, but how in the world can we think about ranking kids right now?" Treyger said.

Success Academy, the city's largest charter school chain, said Monday it would make some changes to promotion criteria but would still grade students. Founder Eva Moskowitz told parents it would be, "an abdication of our responsibility to treat grades like candy."

De Blasio says he's aiming to strike a balance.

"I think it is important with everything in life that there be some real standards, I think it helps people to have some clear standards and we think we can do that in a fair way that accounts for how difficult this experience has been," De Blasio said.