BARNESVILLE — Officials are considering whether Barnesville High School should move away from the traditional class ranking system and toward the Laude System, which recognizes a student’s rigor of courses as well as their performance.

Principal Ron Clark gave a presentation regarding the system to the Barnesville Exempted Village School District Board of Education during Tuesday’s evening meeting.

Clark distributed proposals to each of the board members that describe benefits of using the Laude System instead of class rankings.

“Rank is misinterpreted. It is very accurate if every kid in every school has the same teacher and is in the same courses but because there is a fluctuation with different teachers for different courses for different schools, it’s very hard for colleges to compare. It’s not apple to apple,” he said, adding that this can impact students negatively.

Clark said some students will want to avoid tougher courses in order to maintain higher grades and, in turn, a higher class ranking.

“What we see is students will want to drop classes if they’re getting a B after the first nine weeks, they want to drop the class because it’s going to negatively impact their GPA. So they’re running away from some of the classes that are more rigorous, and they’re trying to get out of classes that they’re not doing well in,” he said.

Even though a class may better prepare a student for college, he said some are avoiding those courses on the chance they may earn a lower than desired grade.

Additionally, Clark said the ranking system can lead to an “unhealthy competition” among students.

Clark said the most important benefit of using the Laude System is being able to eliminate the possibility for a student who graduates early to displace another student from their rank within the class.

Kailee Swallie, a recent Barnesville High School graduate, accompanied Clark during the presentation. Clark said Swallie went through her high school career as the class salutatorian until the last couple months of her senior year, when she was displaced by another student who was graduating early.

“That’s not taking away from that student’s achievements, it’s just unfair to students,” he added.

Swallie then spoke in favor of the school implementing the Laude System.

“I think it’s a way of recognizing other students that are taking harder courses. If you look at a spreadsheet, there’s people that wouldn’t be recognized in the top 10 but they would get recognized under this for taking hard courses,” she said, adding that under the valedictorian system, those students may not have been recognized at all.

Clark also said the percentage of colleges that view class rank as considerably important is 14% while 79.2% place high priority on grades and college prep courses.

In the Laude System, students would be recognized with three distinctions:

Summa Cum Laude – 80 Laude Points and a 3.5 – 4.0 GPA;

Magna Cum Laude – 57-71.999 Laude Points and a 3.5 – 4.0 GPA;

Cum Laude – 40-56.999 Laude Points and a 3.5 – 4.0 GPA.

Clark said the system helps to recognize the rigor of the courses students are taking.

“We’re accounting for the students that are really beefing up their schedules at the risk of taking a hit and getting a B in a class and maybe not having that 4.0 when they graduate,” he said.

In response to a question from board President Dennis Huntsman, Clark said there are two districts in the region that have implemented the system – Switzerland of Ohio Local School District and Wellsville Local Schools.

In other matters, Superintendent Angie Hannahs called for an executive session to “consider the investigation of charges or complaints against an employee, official or student;” and “preparing for, conducting or reviewing negotiations with public employees concerning their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment.” Board members returned after a nearly two-hour, closed-door session.

The meeting continued in open session with the board approving the treasurer and superintendent’s reports.

Following the meeting, when asked if any action was taken on the items discussed during the executive session, Hannahs said there was not.

A special meeting is set for 7 a.m. June 30 at the central office.