The Cullman County School Board will consider a revised board policy next month that would remove the recognition of valedictorian and salutatorian among the system’s graduates.

The policy change was on the agenda for Thursday night’s board meeting, but was tabled until next month after a discussion among board members and Cullman County Schools Superintendent Shane Barnette. 

The policy would have made the change effective with this year’s incoming freshmen — the Class of 2024. There would still be a class ranking with the revised policy, just not a designation of valedictorian and salutatorian, Barnette said.

Barnette said every counselor in the system was asked about the change, and they all had the same opinion.

“Every one of them is unanimous that we need to phase it out,” he said. 

The system’s principals were also brought in for an open vote in front of each other, and they were also unanimous in agreeing to end the practice, Barnette said. 

“They said it’s a nightmare every year trying to track it, trying to keep up with it,” he said.

Barnette said he was introducing the revised policy because schools have run into issues in recent years that saw the student with the highest GPA be ineligible for the titles because they took classes at Wallace State Community College or because their classes at the Cullman Area Technology Academy are weighted differently than those taken on their school’s campus.

Current policies require valedictorians or salutatorians to have spent their four years of school physically at their school’s campus, but the system offers pathways to graduation that can send them off campus to receive the best education they need, he said.  

“You could actually have students who go to Wallace, through our Fast Track program or something like that, and graduate from Wallace and have a really high GPA, and not be the valedictorian because they don’t take the classes on campus,” he said.

Those issues will only occur even more now that the system is offering an option for virtual classes for every student, Barnette said.

Some students also choose to attend the Cullman Area Technology Academy, which offers classes to earn certifications or degrees, but those classes aren’t counted the same as classes back on their school’s campus, he said. 

“Some of the math in our pre-engineering program is really as tough as some of the math that is offered on some of our campuses, but it’s not weighted the same,” he said. “And the same thing with our nursing program, some of those classes are not weighted the same as back on the home campus.”

Barnette said having a valedictorian and salutatorian could also be causing some of the system’s graduates to be missing out on potential scholarships, and doing away with the practice could let them qualify for more. 

If a college offers a valedictorian scholarship, but a student attends a high school that doesn’t name one, those colleges will typically let those students apply if they are in the top five percent of their class, he said.

In a high school class of 100 students that doesn’t name a valedictorian, that would mean that the top five students would all be eligible for valedictorian scholarships at different colleges, rather that just one valedictorian who is eligible under the current policy, Barnette said.

“If I see an opportunity for five kids to get a scholarship instead of just one kid to get a scholarship, that excites me,” he said. 

Learning Support Specialist Karen Pinion, who works with the system’s counselors, said there are students every year who have to make the decision to take Fast Track or CATA courses or stay at their school campus to compete for the valedictorian and possible scholarships.

“It creates an inequity among the students,” she said.

Because of the different caveats among the board’s valedictorian policy, there was one high school last year that had its actual top two students place lower in the rankings because of the way their classes were ranked, meaning that student with the third highest GPA was actually named the valedictorian.

“If you think that engineering at CATA is what you want to pursue, then who are we to say that’s not as important as staying at a local high school and taking pre-calculus and calculus,” she said.

Board member Heath Allbright said he would rather see the board make a change to the criteria around the valedictorian and salutatorian rather that getting rid of the titles.

“If it meets this criteria, you’re eligible for these awards, if you don’t meet these criteria, you will not be eligible, and just leave it at that,” he said. “And if these kids want to do that and strive to be the best, then they have to jump through the hoops just like the real world instead of giving everybody a trophy or taking it away.”

Board member Kerry Neighbors said he understands the argument about students going to Wallace State or the CATA, but he wouldn’t want to get rid of the recognition, because some students work hard to earn that achievement.

“That doesn’t mean much to me, but it would mean a lot to somebody,” he said. 

Board member Kenny Brockman pointed out that counselors and principals are the ones who have to do the work every year to calculate the valedictorian and salutatorian, and they were unanimous in their votes.  

“They do it all the time and we don’t,” he said. 

When the revised rule came up for a vote in the board’s regular meeting, Allbright made a motion to table the decision until next month’s meeting. The board voted 4-2 in favor of tabling the motion, with Allbright, Neighbors and board members Gene Sullins and Shane Rusk voting in favor. Brockman and board member Mike Graves voted against the motion to table.

The Cullman County School Board will next meet on Sept. 10, with a work session beginning at 5:30 p.m. and the regular meeting immediately following.