School Board Discusses Honors Classes, COVID Mitigation Efforts

By Travis Volz

A discussion on the West Washington County Unit District cum laude honors system and COVID protocols were on the agenda for the regular school board meeting last Thursday.

Board member Cathy Cook led a discussion of the district’s cum laude honors system. She said she wanted to see more classes included in the criteria for selection.

“I know everything is going toward STEM and now STEAM, but I think we need to take arts into account too,” said Cook.

Currently, the cum laude criteria are focused on higher level English, math, science, social science and foreign languages. Cook said she was in favor of adding band, art, and chorus to the criteria.

Superintendent Keith Senior said that the cum laude honors system replaced the valedictorian/salutatorian model, in order to recognize more students who completed more rigorous high-level courses like calculus, physics and Spanish IV.

“Students on the cum laude path can still take elective classes, but the cum laude criteria are based on what college recommend for high school students,” said Senior.

Read the full story in this week’s issue.