VIRGINIA BEACH — VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WVEC) -- In Virginia Beach, class rank could be a thing of the past.
The school board discussed plans to eliminate it Tuesday. However, there was disagreement over whether or not to keep the valedictorian and salutatorian.
Some board members want to know why would the district discontinue two of the most prestigious honors out there, valedictorian and salutatorian.
“These handful of students who are trying for that and aspire for that, and yes, they take a lot of hard classes, and yes, I think that that should be acknowledged,” said Board Member Carolyn Weems.
Other school board members said if the school removes class rank that should include all rankings no matter how prestigious.
“You’re comparing apples and oranges is what you are doing, in an attempt to rank all 500 seniors under a system, they are just involved in so many different programs,” said Board Member Carolyn Rye.
The school district’s plan is to drop the class rank in exchange for a Latin system based on GPA: 3.0-3.49 would equal Honor graduate, 3.5-3.75 would equal Cum Laude, 3.76–3.99 would equal Magna Cum Laude and 4.0 and above would equal Summa Cum Laude.
The district believes students are still being recognizing for their achievement, without putting pressure on students to have to be the best.
However, not all parents agree.
“I think we are an incentive-based society, and if we reward the best more will strive to be the best,” said parent Brian Kirwon.
According to a parent survey, more than 70 percent agree with switching to the Latin system. Collen Stephens said class rank kept her daughter from getting a scholarship, and she had a 4.5 GPA and scored 1490 on her SATs.
“We were told that she had not been in the top ten percent of her class, so they did not even consider her for a scholarship,” said Stephens.
The school board believes class rank is a thing of the past when it comes to college transcripts. They’ve been consulting Fairfax School District who made the change more than a decade ago.
“We didn’t want to believe we were behind in any way, but that’s the way they looked at us,” said Board Member Beverly Anderson.
The school district will now go back to the drawing board and try to come up with a compromise. They could vote on this issue as early as their next meeting.
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