By By Lynette Wilson / staff writer
July 9, 2002
A new Meridian public school policy will exempt junior high and senior high school students from final exams if they have near-perfect attendance and maintain A, B or C averages.
The policy replaces one in which principals at Meridian High School, Kate Griffin Junior High School and Northwest Junior High School decided on their own how and if they would exempt students.
The new policy comes about a month after school officials, including Superintendent Janet McLin, learned that Kate Griffin exempted students in May if they had at least a passing average.
Kate Griffin Principal Phillip Daniels also directed teachers to give students who took an exam not less than a minimum passing grade of 70 regardless of how they performed on the year-end test.
Daniels could not be reached for comment Monday. Principals at Meridian High and Northwest Junior High also could not be reached.
The new exemption policy applies to all three schools.
Students could be exempt if they have an A average and no more than three absences or tardies; a B average and no more than two absences or tardies; or a C average and no more than one absence or tardy.
The policy states that an exemption is a privilege students earn; administrators could revoke the privilege based on student behavior. The policy also says some courses may not allow exemptions.
In Lauderdale County public schools, Superintendent David Little said students there can be exempt from finals if they have a yearly or semester average of 92 depending on the length of the course.
Students also could be exempt if they have perfect attendance in the class.
Autry said she was glad that Meridian schools will no longer allow exemptions from finals if students have a D average. Nevertheless, she said, she still has concerns about exempting C students.
In the end, Autry said when the administration and the principals came to a consensus, "everybody left feeling we were doing the best for the children."