School Board Approves .5 GPA Weight for Academy of Science Classes

In a unanimous vote last week, the Loudoun County School Board implemented an additional .5 grade weight to all Academy of Science (AOS) courses. The action levels AOS courses with Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) honors classes, with both receiving an additional .5 grade point average weight. The new .5 grade weighting policy for honors and AOS classes is effective with the 2009-2010 school year, and is applied retroactively to all applicable grades of currently enrolled LCPS students.

 LCPS Asst. Superintendent Sharon Ackerman spoke about the Grade Weighting Committee, composed of school staff, parent representatives and one student, and their efforts to examine honors criteria from the State Board of Education as well as the addition of some local criteria and advised, “There will be a standard procedure,” for assessments.

While the committee’s recommendation was presented at the Oct. 13 meeting as an information item, Broad Run School Board member Bob Ohneiser, an early proponent of grade weighting for AOS classes, introduced a motion to suspend the rules and vote on the recommendation. The board unanimously agreed.

Ohneiser then introduced a motion, drafted in collaboration with Blue Ridge School Board member Priscilla Godfrey “that all non AP classes at AOS be designated as honors level work and be granted .5 weighting…and applies retroactively.” When the motion passed 9-0, Ohneiser said, “We are doing the right thing, just a few months later.”

Too Much Homework...Or Too Little? 

The School Board then discussed guidelines for, and merits of homework and ultimately adopted revisions to LCPS homework policies, which set maximums for time spent on homework for elementary, middle and high school grades. The policy drafted in the Curriculum and Instruction Committee chaired by School Board member Priscilla Godfrey (Blue Ridge) and adopted last week establishes 30 minutes of homework per day for students in grades one through three, and not more than one hour per day of homework for students in grades four and five.

At middle and high school levels, grades six through 12, the markers are provided as an average per subject, of not more than, a half hour per day, per subject. At Large School Board member Tom Reed expressed concern about the consequences of a six-subject school day translating to three hours of homework each night for high school students; Ackerman explained such would be the maximum.

Broad Run School Board member Bob Ohneiser asked his colleagues to consider an amendment to the homework policy which addressed, “the failure to complete or hand in homework will not be used to lower grades for any student who maintains A or B grades,” on all tests, projects, and exams. Ohneiser described situations involving students overwhelmed with hours upon hours of homework and the consequences of failing homework grades against consistent A and B student test scores, and grades. Whether or not a student completes homework should not have a negative impact on a student’s grades, Ohneiser said, “If a student grasps the material, that's the real point.”

Godfrey argued: “If homework has become an issue for your family march right in and have a conversation with the teacher,” and argued against “putting something in the policy that ties a teacher’s hands...we hired them to do a job.”

Catoctin School Board member Jennifer Bergel also opposed the language Ohneiser offered, and argued against what she characterized as an “Alarming trend to tell students homework doesn’t matter.” Bergel also referenced the mandatory study hall class every other day in high school, an hour-and-a-half of time in the school day available for homework.

Ohneiser found support from Leesburg School Board member Tom Marshall, who agreed that homework should be given for the purpose of reinforcing a lesson and should not penalize students who earn an A or B on tests. Marshall, however, also cited the necessity of compliance with homework assignments when reading is necessary in preparation for the next lesson concluding ” Grading is a stick and also a carrot.”

School Board Chairman Robert DuPree (Dulles) asked if there were any directives to teachers that “They have to grade homework, or is it their flexibility?” Asst. Supt. Ackerman answered that there was no directive that homework must be graded, but rather “...homework should be reviewed.”

DuPree opposed the motion, recalling personal experiences with his three children he said who would not have made As and Bs, without homework, "They would have been C students.” DuPree advocated. “The flexibility we offer works.”

Sterling School Board member Warren Geurin said he was concerned about the message they would be sending. " A and B students don’t have to do the homework, but C students do,” he remarked. Sugarland Run School Board member Joseph Guzman voiced his opposition saying simply, “Homework is necessary."

Ohneiser's motion failed 2-6-1 with Ohneiser and Marshall voting yes and DuPree, Geurin, Bergel, Godfrey, Reed, Stevens voting against and Guzman absent for the vote.

School Enrollment 606 Students Higher Than Projected

Dr. Sam Adamo, LCPS Director of Planning and Legislative Services, provided board members with the school system’s official September 2009 enrollment of 60,096 students, 606 more students than LCPS had projected. Adamo also projected LCPS will enroll 63,353 students for the next school year, an increase of 3,257 students or 5.4 percent which he described as a “conservative projection.”

Adamo’s presentation included program capacity and enrollment for each of LCPS 76 schools as well as the previously projected enrollment numbers.

Warren Geurin (Sterling) asked Adamo to clarify program capacity. “Given some folks look at these capacity numbers as hard and fast number of seats available; we can put people there, and that is not always the case,” Geurin said. Regarding Geurin’s reference to Park View High School in Sterling and its 1,356 student program capacity versus and enrollment of 1,271, Adamo explained that in fact PVHS did have 75 available seats, but countered that did not necessarily translate to empty classrooms saying school administrators and teachers utilize available space.

Referencing individual school enrollments, Bob Ohneiser (Broad Run) questioned the possible need for another elementary school in Leesburg, given “100 percent of all elementary schools in western Loudoun are under capacity,” and that the newly opened Culbert Elementary in Hamilton is some 200-plus seats under program capacity. Ohneiser asked Adamo about a timetable when those western schools would not be underutilized.

Adamo explained that continued growth in the county and western Loudoun would see those school seats fill and that moving students from Leesburg to western facilities would be a board “policy decision”, and referenced issues of safety, and transportation time on buses as a consideration.