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Pickerington GPA requirements changed
(by Anne Holmes, staff writer - June 11, 2009)
Pickerington students must now follow a different set of GPA requirements to participate in extra-curricular activities.
At the June 8 Pickerington School Board meeting, board members voted four to one to change the eligibility and minimum grade requirements for extra-curricular activities from the current procedure of using a cumulative grade point average (GPA) to a per grading period GPA.
Under the old system, a student needed to maintain a cumulative minimum GPA, meaning all grading periods combined. The new procedure will require all students to have achieved a 1.75 GPA the previous grading period to the period of the activity.
Ninth-grade students, for eligibility purposes, must pass 75 percent of their classes and earn at least a 1.75 GPA in the last grading period of eighth grade to be eligible for fall activities.
If a new ninth-grade student took any high school classes in junior high, the grades earned in those classes will be used to determine eligibility for fall activities.
Board member Lisa Reade was the only no vote, stating she would prefer using the 2.0 GPA standard and questioned telling a student facing academic challenges it is OK to spend four hours a day practicing and only an hour on course work.
To graduate, students must only achieve a 1.75 GPA.
In other news, Assistant Superintendent Jim Sotlar announced four new Ohio Master Teachers as set forth by the Ohio Educator’s Standards Report. District teachers earning the Master Teacher designation are Theresa Allen, Carla Fultz, Karen George and SuEllen Henry.
A Master Teacher demonstrates excellence inside and outside the classroom through consistent leadership and collaboration to maximize student learning. A Master Teacher also strives for distinguished teaching and continued professional growth, as specified by the Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession.
Superintendent Karen Mantia recognized that “a Master Teacher goes above and beyond their typical work day, their typical degree they already hold. Many of these people already hold master’s degrees, in some cases doctorates. This is a rigorous program that challenges our teachers to engage in additional learning about student learning, instruction, assessment. It comes with a rigorous test that really challenges the teachers and what they have learned. The great thing about it is that these professionals go back into the classroom and work with students with the most advanced learning that they have acquired from some of the top instructors in the country.”
The Master Teacher designation is valid for five years.
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