Richland proposes stricter criteria for valedictorians

RICHLAND — The Richland School Board on Tuesday sent a policy setting criteria for students who want to be class valedictorians back to the drawing board after hearing from frustrated parents.

The board was set to vote on a policy upping the number of advanced placement classes needed to qualify for valedictorian from one to four, but one board member, a teacher and two parents said that didn't solve the problem with the requirements.

The board began discussing criteria for valedictorians and whether to make changes after Richland student Ellen Bengtson missed out on a valedictorian spot because she chose to take a rigorous online math course through Stanford University.

Bengtson earned a B in the class, a spot as salutatorian and entrance to Yale University this year as a freshman. But her father, Peter Bengtson, told the school board Tuesday night that becoming one of her high school's valedictorians had been his daughter's dream.

He suggested that the school board should consider a suggestion made by member Phyllis Strickler earlier in the evening to exempt university-level courses from calculating valedictorian eligibility.

Sandra Stroup, an advanced placement English teacher at Richland High School, sang Ellen Bengtson's praises and said what happened to her was unfair.

"In 30 years of teaching, that girl was the smartest I've ever had," Stroup said. "She should have been supervaledictorian. To give her salutatorian was a disservice to her."

Some board members balked at exempting university-level classes from the calculations, saying students might use that to game the system by picking and choosing which classes determined their eligibility.

Board member Rick Donahoe suggested that students shouldn't worry so much about achieving valedictorian status, and that colleges are more interested in whether they took challenging classes than whether they got straight "A's."

Richland parent Rama Devagupta countered that at least for Washington colleges and universities, valedictorian status means a full-tuition scholarship.

That can be critical for families who don't have the income to pay for a college education, she said.

Board President Richard Jansons suggested that a possible solution to the problem that wouldn't allow students to pick and choose which classes count is to have them say before they take a university-level class whether they want it on their transcript.

And those classes couldn't be used to fill graduation requirements, he said.

The board agreed to have a committee take a look at Jansons' idea, as well as at whether a weighted system for assigning grades for advanced classes would benefit the district.

-- Michelle Dupler: 509-582-1543; mdupler@tricityherald.com

This story was originally published September 15, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Richland proposes stricter criteria for valedictorians."