RESERVE — “Failure is not an option,” a phrase incorporated by many, is opening up new avenues for students in St. John the Baptist Parish Public Schools this academic year.

A recently approved Pupil Progression Plan targets local students whose test or assignment grades come back at zero or near rock-bottom status.

“It’s about expectations,” Superintendent Kevin George said. “If you score zero on a test, there is really no likelihood you can come back from that. You can score all 100s and you will not be able to come back from that zero.”

Approved by School Board members this month, George said the new plan motivates students to continue their education following poor grades.

“(The student has) incentive now to go back, study and learn the material,” George said.

“At the end of the year, the kids are going to be tested on this material. Would you rather have a kid that scored a 23 and did not have to go back and learn the material? Or would you want that kid to have had the chance to relearn the material, retake the assignment?”

The adopted policy gives each of the School District’s principals wide latitude to form their own policy by which students who earn failing grades are given an opportunity to retest in hopes of earning higher grades.

The policy was forwarded to the School Board through the recommendation of St. John’s Pupil Progression Committee, which George said is comprised of more than 30 local educators charged with formulating different rules to govern how students progress throughout the district.

Concern

The plan was not rubberstamped, as School Board Member Russ Wise motioned to table the effort during Sept. 8’s full Board meeting. When his tabling motion was not seconded, Wise was the only Board member who voted against the plan.

The District 8 representative said the new policy creates a two-tiered grading system that is unfair to students.

“If an A student somehow got a B on the test and wanted the chance to improve it, they wouldn’t be allowed to,” Wise said.

“If you failed the test, you have the chance to make it up. That is patently unfair. That gives an advantage to our failing students that our best and brightest do not get.”

Wise questioned the move making the policy school specific and not parishwide.

“I have no problem with the Pupil Progression Committee, but this looks to me like an education fad that has not been tested well enough to know if it is working.

“I’m not ready to go forward on that with what I see as the significant difficulties in it until we look at it a little more closely.”

Principals

George said the District’s goal is to make sure students learn the material, adding the committee aided this effort by incentivizing students who received an F or below 50.

He said the policy was crafted in a generic way so every school can tailor it to their own needs.

“It just stated that no grade below a 50 shall be recorded in a teacher’s roll book,” George said. “It said each school should design a plan to address this.”

The superintendent stressed students who earn 20s would not automatically be given 50, but just receive the chance to earn a better grade.

Each school has already submitted their individual plans for the program, George said.

“Every principal is paid to run their school,” George said. “If their schools do well, they receive all the rewards. If their schools don’t, then they are looking for another job. With that much responsibility on their shoulders, they have to be able to make those decisions.

“I am not afraid to give them that latitude because they are well-educated leaders. We trust them to do what is right.”