Well, well, the ghost of Gilroy High School’s former principal
apparently still lives.
Well, well, the ghost of Gilroy High School’s former principal apparently still lives.
The dearly departed principal’s reverse-elitist policy of not allowing weighted grades for those students who take advanced placement classes is unfortunately going to die a slow and painful death.
School Board Trustees will have to buck a 6-4 vote from the Gilroy High School Leadership Committee in order to change the current system, which went in effect this year following an autocratic decision by the former principal.
The issue is this: Should students who choose to take advanced classes receive more grade points than those who take regular classes?
Under a weighted grade system, students who receive, for instance, an A in a regular course would receive 4.0 grade points; students who earn an A in an AP course receive 5.0 points.
Trustees should reverse the policy at GHS for reasons of fairness. Students who take more difficult courses should be rewarded with weighted grade points. That’s the norm across the country. And so what if the University of California system recalculates grade point averages to un-weight grades? There are plenty of schools that don’t, and students who apply to those universities are at a distinct disadvantage. Why would our school district want to penalize them for taking more challenging courses?
Trustees may, in fact, not even have to “change” the policy. Dale Morejon, former teacher and frequent contributor to The Dispatch editorial pages, contends in his letter published below that the former principal unilaterally and without proper authority changed a Board policy adopted in 1991.
To his credit, new Principal Bob Bravo didn’t try to make this decision unilaterally. Being a team player, he involved staff and parents. But truthfully, this vote represents only a few parents and staff members, and it certainly doesn’t reflect the community at large.
The school district has made significant strides in welcoming and challenging all segments of a diverse student population. Weighted grades for top students willing to take on more difficult courses are another step down the right road to restoring common sense to our public school system.
Trustees should ponder the best way to make that change immediately and without further fanfare.
Meanwhile, Principal Bravo should consider revamping the leadership team at Gilroy High to include those who are advocates for all the students at Gilroy High.
