Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
After months of deliberation, the grading committee has proposed that the board amend two school policies.
The first change is proposed to Policy GACCA, which governs post-secondary dual credit. The policy states, “the district may offer courses that qualify for dual credit in cooperation with eligible institutions.” The proposed change is to replace the word “eligible” with the word “accredited.”
Committee chair David Holzwarth explained that the change brings clarity to students and school administrators regarding whether or not credits from various institutions will be accepted for credit.
The grading committee also presented the First Reading of Revision to Policy GCAB, which addresses class rank and honor student recognition. Currently, dual credit and AP courses are subject to a 5.0 grade point average scale. All other NR-S course offerings count as a 4.0 on a 5.0 scale.
The committee recognized that students seem to be very competitive when it comes to class rank and recognition at graduation, and were also made aware class rank has an impact on some scholarship awards, including Dollars for Scholars. Taking into account these and other factors, the committee proposed two primary changes to the policy.
To continue the practice of recording dual credit and AP classes on a 5.0 scale, but use the 5.0 scale only as a tiebreaker for determining class rank if two or more students have the same average based on the 4.0 scale.
To recognize honor students as anyone with a 3.5 or higher GPA on a 5.0 scale, and to add a high honors recognition category for those earning a 4.0 or higher GPA on a 5.0 scale. In addition, all students earning “high honors” recognition will have an opportunity to have a leadership role in the graduation ceremony.
Historically, it has been the practice of the district to recognize a valedictorian and salutatorian; however, these honors are not currently designated in policy. After holding numerous discussions, reviewing student surveys and soliciting feedback from the public, the majority of the committee decided to write the high honors recognition into policy rather than valedictorian and salutatorian.
The board voted to accept the first reading of the Revised Policy GCAB. This policy is open to feedback from the public prior to its second reading at the March meeting.
