Following confusion over class ranking standards, the Columbia school board is establishing a committee to reevaluate the policy, Superintendent Jason Harris said at the school board meeting May 7.
Harris said the committee will consist of two students, three parents and three teachers to study and make recommendations.
The school board has pushed back any decision on proposed policy changes related to the class rankings until the committee finishes its work.
Parents and students have expressed concerns in recent weeks about conflicting information about dual enrollment classes and the number of credits used to determine the weighted numerical average, which is used to set the valedictorian, salutatorian and top 10.
Columbia High School junior Leah Nolan approached the board May 7 during its meeting at Jefferson Middle School, saying she is trying to understand the requirements and standards as she plans for her senior year.
“I know some of you may not know me, but I am involved in multiple activities. I have always been a straight A student. I hold leadership positions in many of these. I also serve on as a representative on the Mississippi Department of Education Student Advisory Council. We frequently discussed issues such as these,” Nolan said.
Nolan referenced a letter dated Jan. 10, 2020, that spelled out changes made during the current school year concerning AP classes. The changes are also in the student handbook, but the changes were made after students had already chosen and had begun taking their classes.
However, the school board had tabled those proposed changes, so they did not actually take effect even though they were included in information given to the students.
Nolan became emotional discussing how since eighth grade she and others have kept up with all of the requirements for graduation and the weighted numerical average. She said she is concerned what the proposed changes could do to the students. She also asked if the standard was going to change for the dual enrollment and AP classes. Currently both carry the same phase 4 weight.
Board President Marie Shepard responded, “You have your state standard, the pathway for graduation diploma. The school board can add to those; we cannot subtract from those. We can add to those like senior projects, an example we can add to our requirements.
“Then you have your student ranking policy, a completely different policy. It is not issued by the state Department of Education. It is something each school board has a liability with and how to calculate it. We recognize since all of this happened that there is a difference of 22 credits in the weighted numerical average and the 24 to graduate. No, we do not intend to make changes on anyone in midstream.”
To graduate, a student must earn 24 credits. But only 22 of the credits are taken into consideration when deciding the class top 10, according to the current policy.
Shepard addressed Nolan, “I personally apologize, and I think I speak on behalf of the school board for any confusion which has been communicated and we are trying to find out where that miscommunication happened. Jason (Harris) has spent countless hours with Mr. (Braxton) Stowe to make sure what you were told and how you perceive your curriculum did not affect your ranking when the actual policy was applied to. The policy is what you have to go by. I’m sorry that someone misinformed you, but we have to follow the policy when we make the calculations. What was proposed at first, was tabled and I think it will not be taken back up until the committee meets and comes up with a better fit.”
Nolan questioned the board, “My class entered under a 22-credit policy and now are being changed to a 24-credit policy at the beginning of our senior year. That means school board policy changes right before we graduate. Music, art and physical education cannot be considered towards your weighted numerical average. Does being in these extracurricular activities hinder us?
Harris answered, “Some of the confusion is what does it take to graduate and what does it take to be the val/sal or top 10 are? They are totally different. I hope that clears up some of the confusion. You have brought up some valid points that we need to address. We need to let our policy evolve with how our school has evolved.”
Next Nolan discussed being led to believe about taking more than one dual enrollment class.
“We were led to believe that we could count more than one dual enrollment course, which is our understanding as students. They were weighted the same as AP, and we could count up to three,” she said. “I know that is not the case, but that is what we were led to believe. 2019 students could have two enrollment classes that could be counted. What we were led to believe influenced our choices.”
Another area of concern was student option, which is referenced in the handbook. Nolan said student option was never mentioned to the students and all the information they received did not mention anything about student options. She said juniors in September 2019 were given a handout from the Mississippi Department of Education to assist in tallying up credits.
“As you can see it does not refer anywhere the term student option, yet there are areas referenced to physical education, health, art, college and career readiness, technology and computer science. None of them are mentioned in the policy. What is mentioned in the policy is student option, which I have never heard of until the April 16 meeting,” Nolan said.
Nolan concluded by saying how great her counselor, Keri Armstrong, has been in assisting her in everything. Nolan choked on emotion over how instrumental Armstrong has been to her. Nolan also offered praises to Stowe, the Columbia High principal, as well for his dedication.
Stowe had said at the April 16 school board meeting that students were led to believe they could count up to three dual enrollment courses for their “student options” but that if the policy is kept as is students can only count one dual enrollment class. Stowe said administrators might have led students to believe that because they had wrongly assumed that the proposed policy updates had been passed.
Harris said the intent of the proposed policy is to encourage students to take more rigorous classes.
“They were not taking the Advanced Placement classes because they were taking the dual enrollment,” Harris said. “AP is much more rigorous and difficult than dual enrollment.”
Other business handled last week included approving the resignation of Sara Davis as social studies teacher at Jefferson Middle School and Victoria Herring as special education teacher at JMS.
New hires approved include Anthony O’Neal as Columbia Elementary School Principal, Jordan Dupuy as Columbia High School social studies teacher and boys’ basketball coach, Jordan Meek as CHS social studies teacher, Kelsey Robbins as CHS science teacher, Sarah Watts as CHS Spanish teacher, Hannah Archer as JMS English/language arts teacher, Ranzy Davis as JMS physical education teacher and Justin Williamson as JMS social studies teacher.
The summer feeding program was approved beginning June 1 until June 25 and also July 6 through July 23 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday at Columbia High School only.
