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Schools

Pinellas schools update

By Times Staff Writer
Published November 13, 2005

Topics sometimes come up at a School Board workshop or meeting that are hotly debated for a time but then seem to drop off the radar screen.

Such topics often are eclipsed by more pressing issues. Other times they simmer, waiting for an opportunity to once again come to the forefront.

Here are three such topics, a review of what happened, and their current status.

Last spring, the School Board reviewed a "white paper" on high school final examinations. The document included a brief history of the district's practice, dating back to the 1980s, of offering exam exemptions to high school students in an attempt to improve class attendance.

Current policy stipulates that a student may have no more than nine absences per semester in a high school with a six-period schedule or four absences per quarter in a high school with a 4-by-4 block schedule without needing to take and pass the final exam to demonstrate mastery of the course content to receive high school credit.

But, the paper states, some educators believe many students purposely miss the maximum number of days and do so while still not being required to take a final exam. School superintendent Clayton Wilcox recommended that the board revise its policy and require high school students to take a final exam in each course taken for high school credit "in order to hold students accountable for their learning and to provide the practice needed to prepare students to take high stakes postsecondary or career-related exams."

After a lengthy discussion in which board members discussed the pros and cons of all students taking final exams, Wilcox decided to remove his recommendation from the table. He instructed deputy superintendent Nancy Zambito to poll teachers for their opinions and said he might add the topic to a future board workshop.

WHERE THE ISSUE STANDS NOW: No board action has been taken. The item could come up at a future board workshop, or Wilcox could resubmit his recommendation.

Two Palm Harbor University High School students requested at a School Board meeting last winter that their school's Center for Wellness and Medical Professions be permitted to designate its own valedictorians and salutatorians. The students felt that despite their high grade point averages, 4.8 on a 4.0 scale, they were denied what they considered the school's top honor because of Palm Harbor's practice of recognizing a pair of valedictorians and salutatorians from the International Baccalaureate program and a pair from traditional and medical magnet programs combined.

The board decided to uphold its current policy, but the issue renewed a discussion about the valedictorian-salutatorian tradition of typically recognizing only the No. 1 and No. 2 students in a senior class.

Realizing that the best students are sometimes only separated by a thousandth of a percentage point, officials began considering the idea of commending as many as the top 3 percent rather than the top two students, which would mean as many as 10 students could be honored.

WHERE THE ISSUE STANDS NOW: Questionnaires have been sent out to the schools to see what students and teachers think. The issue is scheduled to be discussed at a School Board workshop on Jan. 17.

Last May, the School Board adopted a stricter dress code that banned bare midriffs and shoulders and required shorts and skirts to be a specified length. The changes were intended to "present a more positive focus" for elementary, middle and high school students.

The plan was the least restrictive of three proposals, one of which called for mandatory uniforms for all students. At the time, board members reserved the right to revisit the code if they felt it wasn't stringent enough to bring about desired changes.

WHERE THE ISSUE STANDS NOW: The issue is scheduled to be discussed at a School Board workshop on Dec. 6.

[Last modified November 13, 2005, 03:00:43]