CLEARFIELD – Modern education has caused headaches for a time-honored tradition in the Clearfield Area School District.
At Monday’s Clearfield Area School Board meeting, several parents turned out to voice their concerns about how dual enrollment classes are impacting the class ranking system. The class ranks determine which students will graduate valedictorian and salutatorian, as well as where each student falls among their fellow students.
Parent Michael Turnaway Jr., said students who take dual enrollment classes have an unfair advantage when it comes to the class ranking, as the dual enrollment courses are “weighted classes,” which means those classes earn the students more points toward their class rank. Turnaway said the system is unfair because not all he students are able to take dual enrollment classes. Turnaway said the class ranking should be based on the core classes, not on classes that all the students may not have the opportunity to take. He said he would like the board to examine how the top 20 rankings are calculated and come up with a method which is fair to all students.
Parent Lisa Koval said her twins are in 9th grade. She said at the awards banquet, students were ranking as one of the top 10 students in the class, but their grades weren’t high enough to earn them a place on the high or highest honor roll. She said her daughter has been on the highest honor roll, yet did not make the top 10. Koval said the present system is unfair to students whose parents don’t have the means to pay for dual enrollment classes.
Another parent who did not identify himself, said the district used a different method to calculate the student’s class rank. He also said in previous years, there was a limit on how many weighted classes a student was allowed to take. However, for the 2014-15 school year, there were no limits. He said a student taking five weighted classes could get a 70 percent grade-point-average, yet still rank higher than a student with a GPA of 100 percent, but who is not taking any weighted classes. He said there is a lot of concern about students focusing on taking weighted classes, and giving up on the non-weighted classes, such as band, art and shop.
Parent Bryan Shobert said he formed a parents committee, which has been meeting all year to discuss various issues. He asked about the status of the Elementary Research teacher position. Superintend Terry Struble said the position has been advertised and the district is looking for a suitable candidate. Shobert then asked about the grading system for the elementary school students. Struble said the system is going to be discussed over the summer months.
Shobert then asked about rumors of cuts to the music program for students in grades 4-6. Struble said the students will have a band/orchestra/chorus period, but there have been problems with the BOC period conflicting with recess time. He said many of the students were choosing to take recess instead of going to their BOC class. He also said there were issues with lessons being scheduled at the same time on the same day, and teachers holding the students in class, so they would not fall behind.
Parent Joan Robinson-McMillen asked how the board will get in contact with the board about their concerns. She said she had signed up for the district e-mails at the beginning of the 2014-15 school year, but did not receive one e-mail the entire year. She said she had concerns about discrepancies between the student handbook and the scheduling book. She said the main purpose of school is to give students the chance to try new things and decide what they want to do with their future. Robinson-McMillen said if the classes aren’t weighted, the students will choose what they take based on what they are interested in, not because that subject will give them a higher class rank.
Student Mike Turnaway said he feels the student rankings were not correct. He said if students in the top 10 aren’t even making the honor roll or highest honor roll, what was the point of even having an honor roll at all. He said he feels the top 10 students should those students with the best grades. He said many students did not know which elective classes were weighted and which were not. Turnaway also said that it made no sense for a dual enrollment class titled “Pop Culture,” to be worth more points than an English or Civics class. Turnaway said there were students who wanted to take the elective classes, but were told they couldn’t because their core classes were scheduled at the same time, which did not put the students on level ground.
Struble said the district will review the concerns the parents have, however, there is 30 years of history pertaining to how the class ranks have been calculated in the past. He said the expansion of the different programs offered by the school has caused “wrinkles” in the class ranking system. He said there has been a lot of discussion about what classes should be weighted, what classes shouldn’t be weighted, and whether any classes should be weighed at all, leaving all classes on the same level.
During an interview following the meeting, Struble said presently, the dual enrollment classes were given more “weight” than the regular classes because they are college-level classes and the students are completing college-level work.
He said the students do not have to pay for the dual enrollment classes, but since the class ranking system now extends to the ninth grade students, there have been some issues that the district will need to resolve.