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High school senior urges board to address world-language GPA weighting
Summary
A Waterford High senior told the school board that French and Latin students lack ninth-grade honors options, lowering weighted GPAs and disadvantaging them for top class-rank slots; a parent urged better sixth-grade notification and staff-level fixes.
Alex Starts, a senior at Waterford High School, told the Board of Education that differences in how ninth-grade world-language courses are offered and weighted are disadvantaging students who take French or Latin.
"I would like this to be more equitable," Alex said, describing how Spanish offers honors options in ninth grade while French and Latin do not, which reduces weighted-grade-point averages used in class-rank calculations and scholarship considerations. Alex said he has taken French since sixth grade and is currently enrolled in AP French.
Jennifer Starts, Alex's mother, supported the student and asked the district to notify sixth-grade parents about how language choices affect later weighted GPA and class-rank opportunities. She said reversing past outcomes is unlikely but that better information and, if needed, staffing adjustments are needed to offer equitable options going forward.
The board did not take immediate action in open session; the superintendent's report and later agenda items that evening focused on class-size monitoring, security updates and curriculum adoptions. The board did not announce a timetable for responding to the specific language-weighting concern during the meeting.
