Students and families urge Connellsville Area SD to restore class rank, board says rank still available to colleges

At a Connellsville Area School District board meeting on Oct. 21, more than a half-dozen students and community members urged the board to reinstate class rank, valedictorian and salutatorian distinctions for affected graduating cohorts and to make class-rank information accessible for college applications.

The appeals came during the public-comment period, where speakers said the district—s implementation of a new ranking policy unfairly affected students who had already enrolled in weighted classes and that guidance counselors and the district—s PowerSchool system do not provide students easy access to a weighted GPA or class rank for college applications.

"These kids are working really hard...they deserve to have this issue settled," said Jenny Magus, a resident who presented a petition she said has "over 1,100 people" supporting reinstatement of class rank for the classes of 2026 and 2027. "If you wanted the new policy to begin immediately, the class of 2024 should have had the last valedictorian, not the class of 2025."

A student who identified herself as Natalie described encountering a college application that asked for class rank early in the application flow and said her guidance counselor told her to mark "none" on broadly used application forms unless a college specifically requests rank. Natalie read guidance-counselor language saying the district will provide certified class-rank information to colleges on request and that "the most important academic information...is your weighted GPA, which you can't see on PowerSchool."

"So instead of just giving me the information that I requested...I still have yet to receive my class rank," Natalie said, asking the board for an explanation.

Other students and parents said removing rank and the related honors reduces scholarship competitiveness and student motivation. "Keeping class rank, Latin honors and top-10 recognition is both practical and fair," said Ally Krisner. "They help with scholarships, [and] give students measurable goals."

Board members acknowledged the policy change had been preceded by committee research and a vote and said class rank remains available for reporting to colleges. "We did not take class rank away. Class rank is available," a board member said during the board—s response, adding that certified rank reports are submitted directly to colleges and therefore are not posted for students in the same way.

Board members also acknowledged communication gaps about implementation timing. At least one member said the motion had intended the change to start with a specific cohort (the sophomore class at the time of the vote), and several members acknowledged they had not followed up to ensure administrators communicated the change to affected students.

The board did not take any formal vote during the public-comment period to reverse or modify the policy. Board members advised students that colleges can request certified rank reports, and they discussed the need to review how counselors and PowerSchool present weighted GPA and rank information to students.

Speakers asked the board to revisit the decision and to provide clearer, accessible documentation for students applying to colleges; board members said they would review the implementation and communication steps that followed the original motion.

The board addressed many routine agenda items earlier in the meeting — donations, personnel items, first and second readings of policies and a budgeting request for the CAHS musical — but public comment about class rank dominated the meeting—s substantive community input.

Next steps were not announced on the record. Several commenters asked the board to reconvene or meet with parents and students to find a remedy; board members said they would review the matter and referred to the committee research and minutes from the earlier meeting that produced the policy change.