Edgar K-12 reconsiders policy for determining vals and sals
The Edgar Board of Education last week tabled a decision on whether to change the high school valedictorian/ salutatorian format beginning with the incoming freshmen Class of 2029.
Board members will take up the issue at their next meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 20, at 6 p.m., in the school library.
Board member Alison Reinders said she feels the prestigious title of Edgar High School class valedictorian is “watered down” because there are so many of them each year. The Edgar Class of 2025 had four valedictorians and no salutatorian.
Reinders asked middle/high school principal Michael Wilhelm this spring to research how many valedictorians neighboring high schools have. He received five responses back and discovered that Auburndale has one valedictorian and salutatorian in each graduating class, while Abbotsford, Marathon, Phillips and Stratford are open to having multiple valedictorians. Marathon had three valedictorians and one salutatorian this year, while Stratford had six valedictorians and one salutatorian.
Edgar High School currently awards valedictorian status to any graduating senior who finishes with a 4.0 gradepoint average (GPA), regardless of whether or not they took difficult classes their senior year. Neighboring Athens High School only names its top two students as the valedictorian and salutatorian of each class.
Wilhelm said the following tiebreakers, in this order, are currently used to determine the top two students of every graduating class: GPA, ACT score and number of class credits. The top student receives the Wisconsin Academic Excellence Scholarship, which is worth $2,250 each school year at a state college or technical school, and the top two students are recognized at the Marathon County Honoring Excellence banquet.
Superintendent Cari Guden gave the school board the following three options to consider: stay with the current format in which all 4.0 students are valedictorians; have one valedictorian and one salutatorian chosen as the top two students based on the present criteria listed above; or have one valedictorian based on the criteria for choosing the Wisconsin Academic Excellence Scholarship recipient and multiple salutatorians based on the rest of the seniors with 4.0 GPAs.
Board member Rebecca Normington added a fourth option for the board to consider: have one valedictorian and one salutatorian while also acknowledging the remaining seniors with 4.0 GPAs with an award of some sort.
Other business
â– After meeting in closed session, the board approved 2.9 percent salary increases for school district administrators after their contracts were renewed in February.
â– Board members approved a motion to have elementary principal Lisa Witt continue serving as summer school principal.
â– The approved Wilhelm and Jim Steinke as co-athletic directors.
â– Board members accepted the resignation of newly-hired high school science teacher Claire Gillick.
