Some East End Schools Weigh Eliminating Valedictorian And Salutatorian Honors

High school students this weekend will be lining up in caps and gowns as they reach the pinnacle of their high school careers, graduation.While the milestone is steeped in tradition, some school districts are moving away from naming a valedictorian and salutatorian, in favor of honoring as many students as possible at the commencement ceremony.This year, for the first time, Southampton High School students will not hear graduation speeches from the two highest-ranked students, but instead from two class-elected speakers—a change that was two years in the making.Dr. Nicholas Dyno, Southampton’s assistant superintendent for instruction, said the district decided to switch from a traditional ranking system because competition for the top honors was too intense. After consulting with other local high schools and colleges, the district decided to adopt the college system of sorting students into summa cum laude, magna cum laude and cum laude distinctions—with highest honors, with high honors and with honors.“The board decided that the competition for valedictorian and salutatorian was not what we wanted it to be,” Dr. Dyno said, “so we looked at high-performing schools up-island and in different states, and we talked to different colleges, who recommended that the wave of the future is to do away with the ranking system for students in that order.”Adopted two years ago, this is the first time the new policy is actually having an impact in the district. Two students, Kasandra Taraku and Benjamin Hoertnagl-Pereira, were selected to speak at graduation based on an anonymous essay competition. Graduating seniors are divided based on their grade point average into the three honors categories, which means that they now can graduate with honors even if they haven’t taken Advanced Placement or honors classes, making it possible to recognize more students for their successes. “As long as students were trying their hardest, they could earn that designation,” Dr. Dyno said.In the past, valedictorians and salutatorians were chosen based on grade point average, but the scores were weighted based on the number of Advanced Placement and honors classes a student took. A few students competed for the titles—sometimes fiercely—and the decisions often came down to fractions of a point in grade point average, with the numbers being affected by the types of classes taken by each student; a straight-A student could still finish behind another student with similar grades who had completed more advanced classes.While several schools across Long Island and New York have started moving away from the ranking system, some districts, like Westhampton Beach, have opted to carry on the tradition. This week, Superintendent Michael Radday said the top honor is given based on the weighted grade point average at the conclusion of the third quarter of senior year. He also noted that the district has not had any serious discussion of moving away from the designations in the future.At East Hampton High School, Principal Adam Fine said the school has changed its ranking system recently, but that a valedictorian and salutatorian are still named each year. However, he said, that might soon change: He expects there will be discussions with the community and the Board of Education next year about eliminating the process altogether.The principal said he likes the idea of not ranking students, explaining that doing so does not help them get into college, and that the competition can be heated. However, he said he does understand the pride that goes along with being at the top of a class, and said he wants to hear both sides of the argument next year.“It has been something we have discussed freely but never formally started a real process,” he said. “We are going to divide [into an exploratory committee] and assess, and then create a policy and bring it to the board for discussion.“I am interested to hear what people have to say, I think a lot of parents have different opinions,” he added.In East Hampton’s current system, instead of having a typical “weighted GPA,” students are given bonus points for harder coursework—0.50 for AP classes and 0.25 for honors classes. Each January, the district calculates seniors’ GPAs and notifies the top two students of the honor. Those are the only two students who are told their precise ranks—others find out only if they are in the top 10 percent or top 20 percent of the graduating class.A similar system at Pierson High School in Sag Harbor caused unhappiness this year. One mother, Kristen Davey, said that while she is not opposed to having a valedictorian and salutatorian, she wishes the district would have a defined policy outlined in the school code detailing how the top two are selected.Currently, the district selects the valedictorian and salutatorian in January—before the final half of the school year. At the time, Ms. Davey said, her daughter, Emmeline Luck, was ranked third in her class, but now, at the end of the final semester, she ranks second in the graduating class. Nevertheless, she has not been named salutatorian, and after several attempts to have her daughter recognized at the graduation ceremony alongside the salutatorian, Ms. Davey said she is disappointed in the district.“My daughter is upset,” she said. “She feels she has worked really hard for four years and has worked hard to maintain her GPA, and is disappointed in the administration.”Pierson High School Principal Jeff Nichols said he could not speak about a specific student, but that the district’s policy is to calculate GPAs down to one-ten-thousandth of a point in January in order to determine rank.“There certainly has been discussion from a couple of parents about the issue of ranking,” Mr. Nichols said. “And I am cognizant that Southampton and other districts on Long Island have moved away from the practice and don’t rank. But that is something the Board of Education would have to decide, that they would like to review and start an evaluation process for. That is really for the community to decide.“At different times there have been people who raise the issue, and I can think of a couple of parents over the years who have requested we consider it. But I am not aware of anything like that happening now.”