HANOVER COUNTY, Va. -- Karen Rountree’s daughters work hard for their good grades.
But, the mother of two said she was concerned with how their GPAs would stack up to other students in surrounding counties.
Right now, Hanover County is on a 7-point grading scale. That means a score of 93-100 is an A.
Surrounding school districts such as Henrico, Chesterfield, and Richmond are on a 10-point grading scale, where a 90-100 is an A.
"How is that a level playing field?" asked Rountree. "When you send this out to colleges, colleges do not see these number grades; they see the letter grade and the transcript number."
Rountree and other parents like Julie Stubblefield have pushed Hanover School leaders to change the system to a 10-point grading scale. But, they said they are becoming frustrated.
Karen Rountree
“We get very nice responses, thank you for your letter, thank you for your concern, but there is no indication of anything going on in our favor,” said Rountree.
Stubblefield said the current 7-point scale has her concerned about scholarship money.
“There are certain requirements in order to even be able to click submit on any merit scholarships, especially coming from state funded schools," she said.
When asked to comment on the situation, the Hanover School system offered the School Board Chairman provided the following response:
“This is a very complex issue that has the potential to impact over 18,000 students and their parents, which the Hanover County School Board takes very seriously. We are carefully considering this matter and will continue to take a very deliberate approach to ensure all perspectives and considerations are taken into account. We intend to honor our process, which has consistently yielded sound decision-making and exceptional outcomes for many years.”
Mr. John F. Axselle III, Hanover County School Board Chairman.
The board plans to discuss the topic at a work session on March 20.
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