LPOSD debates valedictorian requirements

PONDERAY — Lake Pend Oreille School Board trustees debated valedictorian and salutatorian requirements across the district at the Dec. 14 board meeting.

Superintendent Tom Albertson said that about six year ago Sandpoint High School administration moved from the traditional model of calculating valedictorian and salutatorian of looking at the graduating students’ grade point average alone. Now at SHS administration looks at GPA and 32 credits that students have taken to decide the class ranking.

Students take 16 credits per year at SHS and have a maximum of 64 credits. Students fill out a rubric of 32 credits they want to go toward being placed in the running for valedictorian.

Thirty-two credits are broken down to seven semester courses of English, six science credits, six math credits, five social studies credits and three foreign language credits. Advanced Placement courses count as five points on a four-point scale and dual credit through a university count as four-and-a-half points out of a four-point scale.

“[This] gives a boost to students who are challenging themselves with advanced placement and dual credit courses,” Albertson said.

Trustee Gary Suppiger spoke out against the new model matrix and advocated for the 100-year-old model of deciding valedictorian. He said that the valedictorian and salutatorian honors are prestigious public recognition of academic accomplishments and it is vital that they be given to the most deserving students.

He stated that at SHS, 56 courses are required for graduation and over 70 course credits are completed by SHS’ best students, yet the administration is only looking at 32 courses to decide who is graduating with honors.

Suppiger said he was concerned that, by only looking at half of the course taken, SHS is discounting the work of the most outstanding students.

Suppiger disagreed with the changes made to the model since it was decided without the approval by the school board and decided administratively by the superintendent and SHS principal at the time.

“We [the board] have never engaged at this level of administrative decision and we have left it at the administrative level and not a board oversight vote,” board chairwoman Geraldine Lewis said,

Lewis said she has read the duties of the board and, because of board policy, the decision falls under the administrative level of the school.

Suppiger said that all the LPOSD high schools should follow the same method across the board.

Lewis said the decision is for school administration to make and that not all the schools are the same across the board.

Albertson said that the reason SHS moved to this model was to open up options for students to explore courses with the other 32 credits they had available to them. He also said this model was intended to make it equitable on all students based on the same number of credits and give students more opportunities to explore courses like art and career-technical education courses without fear of no longer being in the running for class honors.

Suppiger said that even without the new model students could still take CTE courses and become valedictorian. He cited his three children that graduated from SHS as examples.

Since this matrix has been used at SHS, five out of the past six classes have had ties for honors, said Suppiger.

Trustee Lonnie Williams asked what the harm was in having a tie for valedictorian or salutatorian.

“What is the harm in having five,” asked trustee Cary Kelly.

Kelly went on to say that valedictorian means the highest and that the highest student should have the honor.

“Maybe 32 credits isn’t broad enough to distinguish students [...] maybe [a change] is worth looking at,” said Kelly.

No change was made to the process of choosing valedictorian and salutatorian since it was only a discussion topic on the agenda. As it stands this process is still decided by the administration of each LPOSD high school.

At the next LPOSD meeting in January Jalon Peters, Tonya Sherman and Lonnie Williams will be sworn in as trustees for their respective zones.