The Eastern Pulaski School Board has decided not to change its policy on weighted grades but suggested that more clarification could be helpful. Concerns that weighted grades from another school do not carry over if a student transfers to Winamac High School were raised during the September board meeting.
In his response last month, Principal Jeremy Tucker told board members that such an arrangement would give an unfair advantage to transfer students. “In applying this proposed policy in its extreme, a student could home school, have every course designated as “honors,” and transfer in with a GPA that none of our existing students could match,” Tucker said. “In the hyper-competitive world of scholarship money, many students would be interested in gaming the system.” Tucker said school officials could not find any other schools that weighted classes based on another school’s designation, except for specific things like AP courses.
Currently, Winamac High School has only four classes with weighted grades. The current practice allows the school’s leadership team to add to that list, based on the recommendation of a class’s teacher.
None of the school board members seemed to have any problem with that system, but Board Member Tim Rausch wondered if the policy should be clarified, so incoming students know what they’re getting into. Board Member Rob Zeider suggested that rather than changing board policy, it would be more appropriate to put the clarification in next year’s school handbook.
