Seaford HS Committee Recommends Eliminating Class Rankings

The Seaford High School Shared Decision Making Committee has recommended that the district do away with traditional class rankings.

Seaford Superintendent Brian Conboy said during his administrative report at Thursday night night’s school board that the committee has suggested only identifying the valedictorian and salutatorian in each graduating class starting in 2014. The committee’s recommendation also urged notifying students who are in the top 25 of the class. Conboy said similar changes have been made in other districts.

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“One of the things they said in the memo to the board was that they felt it was encouraging some unhealthy competition among the high achievers,” said Conboy about the reason for the committee’s recommendation to stop class rankings.

Conboy said the reason why the top 25 of a class would still be determined is that many colleges look at being in the top 10 percent or 5 percent when choosing applicants. He said any changes to class ranking procedures would need to be approved by the school board.

Richard DiBlasio, vice president of the Seaford school board, suggested during Thursday's meeting that any adjustment to the class ranking system not be made until the current freshmen have graduated.