Though Nebo School District officials continue to tout new improvements made to their controversial citizenship policy, members of an at-risk-student advocacy group still say the policy has to go.
Last week, members of the Nebo School Board passed revisions to the 5-year-old policy, which includes a citizenship grade - based on attendance and discipline - that accompanies students' academic letter grades and is necessary for graduation.Those revisions arose during an annual citizenship policy review meeting. They include provisions to reinstate the "needs improvement" citizenship grade and adding a numerical grade value for citizenship credit - with honors grades receiving four points; satisfactory, three points, needs improvement, two points, and unsatisfactory, no points. That means students will now obtain a citizenship grade-point average in addition to the academic GPA.
Members of the district's citizenship committee, which includes Larry Kimball, Nebo director of secondary education, as well as other educators and parents, suggested the changes to "allow greater flexibility (when teachers and administrators work) with individual students."
Despite the revisions, which district leaders claim as evidence that they are working with concerned parents and students, members of the local Citizens for Common Sense group say the fact that the district still retains the policy shows that's not the case.
"Even with the changes, we think (the policy) is still ridiculous," Dorothy Bryson said. "It's still very negative, and we find that aspect of it ridiculous and stupid."
In July, the school board deleted portions of the policy that allowed school administrators to suspend students who received too many U's, or unsatisfactory citizenship grades. U's are given for excessive tardies, unexcused absences or "disruptive be-hav-iors" in classes. Students may make up those citizenship credits by attending the district's truancy school or citizenship classes, performing community service or by other means.
For nearly three years, concerned parents, including Citizens for Common Sense, have been fighting the policy. In 1990, attorney David Challed filed suit against the district on behalf of parents. Earlier this year, Challed, who works for Utah Legal Services Inc., again threatened Nebo officials with a suit and filed a discrimination complaint form with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.
In response to Challed's and Citizens for Common Sense's original requests in February, the district revised the policy. Changes included protecting children from receiving unsatisfactory citizenship grades because of their physical or developmental disabilities, clarifying the appeals process, allowing fee waivers for several makeup options and better notification of parents of students who receive U's.