Rolling into the new calendar year, the Ontario Board of Education recognized newly elected members Mary Bennett, Tom Beck, and Marianne Gasiecki, the only first-time member. Further, the board unanimously voted Bennett as board president and Shelley Fisher as board vice president.
After taking their oaths of office, the members proceeded into their regular meeting, during which a parent expressed concern over the school district’s class ranking bylaws.
Larry Arnold, father of two children currently attending Ontario High School, stated that his twelfth-grade son had been ranked number one in his class going into his senior year. However, a student who transferred to Ontario in September bumped Arnold’s son to number two in the class ranking because that student had taken more AP classes and consequently had earned a higher grade point average, said Arnold.
Larry Arnold noted that his son has been attending Ontario Schools since kindergarten and that he has taken every AP course available at Ontario.
Ontario district’s policy states, “Students entering the high school from non-chartered or home-based schooling shall have no established grade point average or class rank for purposes of graduation honors, until such time as they have completed three semesters.”
Referring to the policy Arnold stated, “My wife took this to the high school principal and basically was told that a non-chartered or home-based school isn’t applicable to a public school, so if this doesn’t apply to public schools, what’s our bylaw for public schools?”
Arnold researched the matter on his own and stated that through a conversation he had with the state’s curriculum officer he discovered, “There is no state law about class ranking, that’s all done locally. The one thing that schools have to abide by is AP courses; you do have to accept those. But as it relates to all of the other curriculums, you don’t know what kind of rigor those other schools had, and that’s why most schools do set a three semester guideline,” said Arnold.
Gasiecki stated, “To me it seems pretty cut and dry that regardless of where these kids come from they should have three semesters under their belt before they could get a ranking in their class.”
Bennett noted that the board will investigate the issue regarding the district’s bylaw.
“My wife took this to the high school principal and basically was told that a non-chartered or home-based school isn’t applicable to a public school, so if this doesn’t apply to public schools, what’s our bylaw for public schools,” asked Larry Arnold.
