A school district policy has resulted in a disappointment for a young lady who managed to complete high school in three years and thought she would be the 2008 class valedictorian. However, district policy states that "The valedictorian shall be the eligible student with the highest weighted grade-point average for four years of high school."
Grapevine High School senior Anjali Datta holds the highest grade-point average of the 471 students graduating from Grapevine High School this year.
In fact, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD officials believe her GPA of 5.898 may be the highest in the high school's history.
It's still not enough to make her the valedictorian, which brings a one-year college scholarship from the state.
Her closest competitor's GPA is 5.64. No one disputes that she's the top student in her class numerically. The problem rests with another number entirely.
Anjali moved ahead of her peers in middle school by taking high school classes. She says that she was encouraged by her teachers to go ahead and graduate because she had the required amount of credits. Since she earned all of her high school credits in the district, the 16 year old student says that she was assured by a counselor that early graduation would not prevent her from becoming valedictorian. The district's attorneys interpreted the policy as it was written, and officials did not comment about any statements a counselor might have made.
Although Anjali will be allowed to address her classmates and receive recognition for a perfect ACT score, she will not be the valedictorian and has learned a valuable lesson the hard way. The lesson I see here is to read everything thoroughly that is of any importance and to "always get it in writing." That's a hard lesson for someone so young.
Another thought about this story is about the benefits of moving students quickly through their school years. I personally know of two young men who moved ahead of their peers academically but could not stand the social pressures and dropped out of school. The fast track certainly isn't for everybody.