Lebanon administrators propose removing 'valedictorian' title and change course weighting

High school administrators presented a recommended change to the Lebanon City Schools graduation policy, proposing to remove the formal "valedictorian" designation and replace it with a "graduation with honors" distinction. The administration said the change aims to address perceived gaming of grade-weighting systems and to emphasize meaningful, rigorous coursework rather than tactical grade selection.

"Nothing else besides basically removing the valedictorian and replacing it with graduation with honors," a district presenter said during the discussion, adding that the administration plans to refine how AP, CTAG (career-technical/college-credit) and other weighted courses count toward honors and class rank. The presentation noted that current practices result in students stacking weighted courses to affect rankings and the administration wants a clearer, fairer approach.

Administrators said the proposal will change policy language but not eliminate class-ranking processes; instead, it will reframe honors recognition and require updates to course descriptions and the student handbook. The board treated the proposal as a first reading and indicated it would be returned for formal adoption at a later meeting.

Board members and administrators discussed procedural details and the timing of implementation for students already in the high school pipeline; no formal vote on final policy adoption occurred tonight.