Pasco County Keeping High School Graduation Tradition

The head of Pasco County public schools is backing out of a plan the would have gotten rid of the two top graduation titles in a vote this month.

Kurt Browning, the superintendent of Pasco County Schools, issued a statement Wednesday saying that he is not going forward with the proposal that would have eliminated valedictorian and salutatorian honors for high school students and make changes to valuation of the GPA system.

Browning was subject to ridicule from the hosts of FOX morning show “Fox & Friends” in a July taping for making the suggestion, The Tampa Tribune reports.

The superintendent said after receiving backlash from parents objecting to the proposal that he decided to dropped the idea set for a school board vote Aug. 12.

“After much reflection and discussion, I have made the decision to preserve the valedictorian and salutatorian titles while we look at the underlying issues with our grading and grade weighting processes,” Browning said in the statement released Wednesday.

Earlier in the year, Broward County in considered a similar measure that would’ve removed the top titles, a plan that was ultimately scrapped by the school board.