THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 23, 1996 TAG: 9605230354
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: 68 lines
Throwing out the grades given by a former chemistry teacher at Manteo High School changed the selection of the school's 1996 salutatorian.
Normally, class rankings are based on grades students earn through the first three marking periods of their senior year. If that policy had been retained, Sarah Brown would have been salutatorian, ranked second in her class of 185 seniors.
But a few weeks ago, Principal Everett Walterhouse decided to count in class rankings only the grades students had received through the first two marking periods of their senior year, during the first semester. He ignored grades they earned during the first nine weeks of 1996. Under that new ranking system, Tom Blanchard became the salutatorian.
So Walterhouse decided that when Manteo High's class of '96 receives diplomas next month, both Brown and Blanchard will be named as having the second-best grades overall among graduating seniors.
Valedictorian Mike Sasscer's first-place standing in the class was not affected by the revised policy.
It's the first time anyone can remember the school selecting two salutatorians.
``They were so close - within one-one hundredth of a point of each other - that I just made them co-salutatorians,'' Walterhouse said Wednesday. ``I decided that using first-semester grades alone was the fairest way to do class rankings, in light of everything else. I did not go in looking at individuals' standings before I determined how to change the grades or select the salutatorian.''
Earlier this month, the principal changed grades of about 70 students who had been in Frank C. Schulz's chemistry classes. Schulz had submitted grades for the first nine-week marking period of this semester before he resigned unexpectedly April 3. But Walterhouse said he ``had some suspicions there might've been some problems'' with the grades Schulz turned in before he stepped down amid controversy after teaching at the school for seven years.
So the principal deleted all the chemistry grades students had received for work done in Schulz's classes between January and March - and gave them their overall high school grade point average for the semester's first marking period, regardless of what they might have earned.
Students in Schulz's college-level Advanced Placement Chemistry class also had their grades changed from the fall semester report cards. Blanchard was in Schulz's AP Chemistry class both semesters, so his grades were increased for three marking periods when Walterhouse deleted the original marks. Brown did not have Schulz for a teacher so her grades were not altered.
After Schulz quit, sheriffs' deputies said that an investigation was started of the former teacher for ``the possibility of sexual offenses against juveniles.'' No charges have been filed against the 50-year-old former teacher. Dare County Schools Superintendent Leon Holleman has asked the North Carolina Board of Education to revoke Schulz's teaching license.
Walterhouse said the decision was his alone - and was based solely out of deference to fairness.
``I'm not motivated too much by parental pressure,'' said the principal. ``I did not go to the School Board about this or talk to them'' before revising the grades or the ranking policy. ``I made the superintendent aware of my decision.
``It didn't change any other students' standings in the top 10 members of the senior class.''
Blanchard's mother, Betty Blanchard, is the Parent-Teacher-Student Association president of Manteo High. When contacted at her Roanoke Island home Wednesday afternoon, she said ``I don't see how commenting can affect the children positively. It's all been so traumatic for these kids.''
Sarah Brown did not return a phone message left at her home Wednesday.
KEYWORDS: CLASS RANKING EDUCATION by CNB