SHARON HIGH SCHOOL Board delays action on program

The goal is to 'level the playing field' for all students in determining class rank, the superintendent said.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- Sharon City School Board decided Monday that it isn't quite ready to revamp the district's independent-study program for high school students.
The board voted 8-0, with Nick Morocco absent, to table a recommendation from Superintendent Richard Rossi to reduce the grade point value of independent study from a 5 to a 4 while leaving the credit value at one-quarter credit.
Advanced-placement courses and the district's Encore program for gifted students carry a grade point value of 5.
The superintendent's proposal drew opposition from some parents as well as James Akins, the district's Encore teacher for grades 11 and 12, and that prompted school directors to delay their vote.
"I don't think we're ready for passage of this. There's conflict here," said school Director Dom Russo.
Incentive issue: Akins said the next move by the district would be to reduce the grade point value of the Encore program from a 5 to a 4 and the end result would be that students won't opt to do the extra work required by the gifted program because there would be no incentive.
Rossi said the plan is to have only the eight advanced-placement courses offered at Sharon High School retain a grade point value of 5.
Reducing everything else to a 4 will "level the playing field" by making all independent-study and Encore programs equal in value, he said, noting the administration has been working on the issue for the past year.
Only students ranked as gifted, based on IQ, can participate in Encore. Some students have been able to manipulate the system and boost their overall grade point average in the past by taking both Encore and independent-study programs, giving them an unfair advantage when it comes to determining class rank, Rossi said.
The goal is to get students to participate in those programs based on their intrinsic educational value, not grades, Rossi said.
Akins said both independent study and Encore should remain at a grade point value of 5 but students should not be permitted to participate in both.
Making them equal: To make them equal, all the district has to do is increase the credit value of independent study from one-quarter to one-half credit. Encore is one-half credit, he said.
Akins said he made that proposal years ago when he helped develop the independent-study program for Sharon but the administration decided to assign only one-quarter credit to the program and allow students to take both.
Ann Lepak of Wengler Avenue, who has a child in the gifted program, accused the administration of trying to change the rules in the middle of the game for high school juniors and seniors.
Jean Weston of North Myers Avenue said she and other parents feel that independent study should be given the same higher course value as Encore and she asked the board to delay action on the policy change.