St. Johns Considers Nixing Valedictorians

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, FL -- When 12 years finally pays off, every last student is proud to get that diploma, but only one is top of the class.

"It's a traditional thing that kids come to expect and many strong students work hard for a long time and for that reason I'd hate to see that go away," said St. Johns County school board member Beverly Slough.

Some of her fellow school board members feel the same.

But every single one of their high school principals wants to do away with honoring a valedictorian and a salutatorian.

Dr. Linda Thomson is the principal of Nease High School.

She says many of the nation's largest school districts have nixed the tradition.

"We would still have class rank, so you'll still have a number one person, but its just on graduation day we'll be honoring everybody that has done well in their academic pursuits," said Dr. Thomson.

Dr. Thomson says it not only about recognizing a larger group of students with successful GPAs, but it's also about competition.

The schools offer weighted classes, which can bump a student's grade point average above a 4.0. "Some students choose to take courses or not take courses because the course is not weighted," said Dr. Thomson.

"They're so competitive and worried about their GPA and we as a group of high school principals didn't think that was healthy." Slough believes, "It enables them to be able to achieve something not anybody else can achieve. Sometimes it gets a little bit competitive, but that's alright, that's the way the world is." Right now, the district policy says it is up to each individual principal.

St. Augustine High School and Pedro Menendez are already phasing out the tradition.

The remaining principals want that too, and they want it to be a district wide policy.

The school board wants parent and taxpayer opinions. A system to collect comments is being set up, but in the meantime, folks are urged to e - mail any or all school members by clicking here.