Brooke school board questioned about weighted classes

By WARREN SCOTT, Staff writer
WELLSBURG — The parent of two Brooke County students has expressed concern about a new state policy involving weighted grades for advanced placement courses taken by West Virginia’s high school students.


Approved by the state Legislature earlier this year, the new policy calls for students who enroll in advanced placement courses in various subjects to receive additional points toward their overall grade-point average.


A student who receives an A in an advanced placement biology course, for example, will receive five points toward his overall GPA, while a student who receives an A in a general biology course will receive four points.


The overall GPA determines each student’s class ranking, with the highest ranking students named salutatorian and valedictorian.


For several years Brooke High School has had several students tie for the distinguished ranks.


Proponents of a weighted grading system argue it rewards students for enrolling in more challenging courses, noting the students otherwise might avoid some courses because they could lower their GPAs.


Marianne Cunningham said she’s not opposed to weighted grades, just the state’s decision to implement them for students in the middle of their high school years.


She said her daughter, a senior, hopes to be named valedictorian and it would have been more helpful if the policy had been adopted when she was a freshman “because then she could have planned her junior and senior years around these weighted courses.”


Cunningham said though her daughter has successfully completed advanced courses, they may not be enough to make her eligible for valedictorian.


She said she and other parents were notified of the new policy this summer, too late to affect their children’s course selections for the upcoming school year.


“A new policy should always be implemented with the incoming freshman class. Freshmen need to know what to expect in order to achieve valedictorian status,” Cunningham said.


“It cannot be thrown at students as they are entering their final year of high school. It is like changing the rules to the football game in the fourth quarter,” she said.


Cunningham said if her daughter is named valedictorian, she will be eligible for more scholarships and admission to colleges and universities that are more selective.


She suggested the school board establish weighted grades for honors courses at the school, also.


Board member Jim Piccirillo said a committee should be formed to look into applying weighted grades to honors courses.


Bill Harvey, the board’s president, said he agreed the policy should have affected incoming freshmen and the classes that follow them, but it was the state’s decision for it to affect all students.


Harvey said he also would consider weighted grades for other courses.


Cunningham said she’s also voiced her concerns in a letter to Steven Paine, state superintendent of schools.


In other business, the board:


¯ Approved the hirings of Pamela Myers as a countywide special education teacher specializing in autism; Sarah Myers as a science teacher at Follansbee Middle School; Jaclyn Robinson as a biology teacher at Brooke High School; Christopher Moore as a social studies teacher at the high school; Ryan Scherich as an assistant football coach at the high school; and Michael Findling, Floyd Ference, Donna Young, Mandy Prunty and Sharon Deuley as substitute staff.


It also accepted the resignations of Bonnie Lauffer, executive secretary and coordinator of board services for the school board, who is retiring after nearly 30 years; Cheryl Cicchirillo, who’s retiring after teaching in the school district for 21 years; Trisha Goodyear, from a teaching position at Wellsburg Primary School; and David Harris, a substitute custodian.


¯ Announced it won’t be meeting today, as scheduled. Instead, the board will meet at 4 p.m. Aug. 20 at its office at 1201 Pleasant Ave., Wellsburg.


Harvey said the board has veered from its usual meeting times in recent weeks so it could fill positions for the upcoming school year. The board normally meets at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday of each month.





(Scott can be contacted at wscott<\@>heraldstaronline.com)