HPISD’s GPA Policy Gets Reviewed and Revised
Remember HPISD’s (recently revised, contentious) GPA policy? Well, it’s been tweaked in several areas. As promised, a dedicated committee will continue to study it, because it was tentative from the start.
The version approved in June applied to junior and senior athletics courses, plus some junior-level electives including advanced journalism and performing arts. In short — and with a motherlode of conditions applied — the new approach lets students choose whether those classes will count toward their GPAs at all. They can only play this card for one class per year, however, and must decide by the first day of school.
New stuff: Senior journalism and performing arts classes — plus band, choir, and orchestra, which have apparently been on the list all along — can also be GPA-exempt. Debate is included now, too.
The chart below is scanned from a supplement to last night’s agenda packet, and it’ll highlight some of the fine print for you. Remember, everything’s still subject to review.
The Board should have left the rules for the Class of 2013 the way they were. Students who wanted to rank high in their class have chosen their classes, worked for their grades, and played by those rules since 8th grade. While no GPA’s will go down, some students are likely to lose the class rank they would have had under the old rules.
The Board’s decision in June to help athletes, Belles, and cheerleaders was rife with unintended consequences, only some of which have since been addressed. They’ve introduced last minute complications for students, counselors, and administrators in registrations that should have been final months ago. This is hardly careful, cautious, “conservative” behavior by the Board, but it is their prerogative.
I have a graduating senior with college apps ready to go. We are still waiting on transcripts for apps that became available in August. It is irresponsible for the Board to change the rules in the middle of the game. We knew what the rules were going into the game. Let’s let Janie and Johnnie live with the consequences for once.