The Board of Education of Anne Arundel County will be presented next week with its first look at changes to the grading policy and administrative regulation that, if adopted, will implement a cum laude honors system that would recognize the hard work of many more deserving students.
Under the proposal, seniors with a cumulative weighted grade-point average of 4.3 or higher (exclusive of college or dual-credit courses) would receive summa cum laude honors. Those with weighted GPAs of 4.0 to 4.294 would receive magna cum laude honors, and those with unweighted GPAs of 3.4 to 4.0 would receive cum laude honors.
If approved by the Board, cum laude honors system would be recognized at high school graduation ceremonies this coming spring. The current selection of class valedictorian and salutatorian would be phased out, but high schools would continue to designate and recognize a valedictorian and salutatorian through the 2017-2018 school year.
The Board will examine the policy and regulation at its November 16, 2016, meeting, which will be held in the Board Room at the Parham Building, 2644 Riva Road, Annapolis. After the Board conducts its review, the policy and regulation will be put online for public comment for 30 days.
Also at the meeting, the Board will hold a discussion about redistricting school boundaries on the Annapolis Peninsula, and consider approval of design development documents for projects at five elementary schools.
The Board will meet at 5 p.m. Wednesday to vote to go into closed session, during which time it will discuss confidential matters as permitted by the Maryland Open Meetings Act including, but not limited to, legal advice, personnel, and negotiations. Closed session is not open to the public. The general session of the meeting, which is open to the public, will begin at 7:00 p.m.
A complete agenda for the meeting accompanies this news release. More information on agenda items will be posted on the AACPS website in the Board Docs section under the Board of Education tab.
The general session of Wednesday’s Board meeting will be broadcast live on AACPS-TV, which can be found on Channel 96 on Comcast and Broadstripe, and Channel 36 on Verizon. High definition broadcasts can be seen on Channel 996 on Comcast and Channel 496 on Broadstripe. Rebroadcasts are scheduled for 7:00 p.m. the day after the meeting and 2:00 p.m. on subsequent Sundays.
The meeting can also be viewed live on the Internet here.
Archived videos of Board meetings can be found online here.