- Third, students gain maturity during their high school years. Many who
fail in the ninth and tenth grades do very well in their eleventh and
twelfth years and make up for their failures through summer school,
evening school, and additional classes during the regular school year.
However, the failing grade is never erased and always part of the GPA
on their college applications. A child with two or three very low failing
grades is doomed to a low GPA, even after making up the class and do-
ing well in future classes. - Fourth, the lowest grade possible, the “zero” grade for truants, is not in-
cluded in the GPA (the computer system interpreted this as a class never
taken, so no grade was entered). Children who actually attended faced a
GPA penalty greater than those who never even came to class.
This rationale seemed logical to him, but unleashed a storm of debate.
Many teachers simply did not want to give up what you could call the
power to grade bash a student. Even a few students on the committee felt
that students should fail with whatever they earned. There was a positive
response from the guidance counselors, parents, most students, and some
teachers on the committee, so it became his task as principal to convince
a few students and many teachers to join the consensus.
After many behind-the-scenes one-on-one conversations, the commit-
tee settled on a compromise: Teachers could fail students with a 50 or a
55 percent. The 55 would be used for students who attended regularly
and did a significant amount of work, but not enough or not of the qual-
ity to earn a passing grade. The 50 would be used for students who were
frequently absent and did very little work.
A positive outcome of the debate was that the representatives of the
school community spoke with their constituencies and all became aware
of how students’ GPAs were computed and how an awful grade in the
ninth year could badly impact a student applying for college.
A related leadership council discussion involved determination of the
school’s valedictorian. The district required a written policy approved by
this committee after lawsuits were filed based on an unclear policy in a
school in another part of the state. The committee had no issue with the ex-
isting policy. The district had a system-wide GPA computation system. The
school would use this system and the valedictorian would be the senior who
had the highest GPA at the end of the fall semester of the senior year.
“Always Remember What’s Important” 189