NEW RULES FOR THE TOP STUDENTS DISTRICT MAKING CHANGES IN ITS VALEDICTORIAN POLICY.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - High school students who are disciplined for bad conduct or earn D's or F's could lose their eligibility to become a valedictorian, under a new high school district policy.

Antelope Valley Union High School District trustees tightened up the policy to avoid giving the academic honor to students who cheat or get poor grades.

``There were some concerns of equity based on citizenship, concerns about students who were valedictorians and may have cheated on a test or may have had some kind of citizenship infraction,'' board President Al Beattie said. ``There wasn't a clear implication in the process. It was strictly tied to grades. From my point of view, character counts.''

The board voted unanimously at its Sept. 1 meeting to approve the more stringent grade requirements and new citizenship guidelines. The policy will not be applied retroactively.

Dozens of students at local high schools every graduation are named valedictorian, a title that goes to all graduates who earn a grade-point average of at least 4.0, or A.

Because honors, advanced and International Baccalaureate classes carry 5 points for an A, students can score higher than the traditionally perfect 4.0.

Past valedictorians have included students disciplined for cheating, officials said.

The new policy states that valedictorian candidates shall, in addition to earning a GPA of 4.0, have no grade lower than a C beginning with the Class of 2006.

For the Class of 2006, the grade requirement will begin in the fall semester of the senior year, and for the Class of 2007, in the junior year.

``We decided we needed a year to make sure students and parents have been advised of the policy change that directly affects the valedictorian candidates,'' Assistant Superintendent Jane Maxwell said.

The new policy also creates a 100-point merit system to measure student citizenship, which was not clearly defined in the old policy.

Students will start out with 100 merit points, and points would be deducted for suspensions or incidents of cheating. A suspension would mean a five-point deduction, the policy states.

Students who drop below 90 points would lose their eligibility to become a valedictorian.

``One five-point merit loss can be restored from the freshman or sophomore years if a two full semester time period passes without another all-day suspension. All merit point losses during the junior and senior years cannot be restored,'' the policy said.

The citizenship rules also will have to be met by students in academies to qualify to wear stoles during graduation.

Trustees also decided to change the designation of the student who earns the highest grade-point average at each school from trustee scholar to meritorious valedictorian.

``The problem the board had was that it implies we are naming that person, but it comes from the school site,'' Beattie said. ``It's a long title but it also comes closer to describing what it is. College officials would scratch their head when they saw a trustee scholar and say, What's that?''

This is not the first time the district has tinkered with naming valedictorians.

The board in 1999 decided the high academic honor should go to just one student at each school - the one with the highest grade-point average.

Trustees reversed that decision the following year after students said the policy of having a single valedictorian at each campus hurt the chances of other straight-A students obtaining college scholarships.

Karen Maeshiro, [phone]

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com