Plano school trustees weighed in on a range of policy changes Tuesday in their last meeting before the May 6 election. Here are the key takeaways from their discussions.
Class rank decision delayed
Trustees appear set to wait another year before considering scrapping the district's class-ranking policy.
A district task force on April 17 had recommended the district eliminate the practice of ranking students by GPA, opting instead for identifying—but not ranking—the top 10 percent of students in each graduating class. But Superintendent Brian Binggeli on Tuesday said staff would likely need more time to develop the GPA standards that would accompany the policy change.
The proposed policy would maintain the practice of identifying a valedictorian and salutatorian from each school's graduating class. It would also identify graduates with honors, including
summa cum laude,
magna cum laude and
cum laude.
If implemented at a later date, the Plano district's proposed policy would resemble those of Highland Park and Carroll ISDs, which stopped ranking their graduating classes in 2009 and 2010, respectively.
Binggeli said the district will likely do more research and bring forward an updated proposal in the spring of 2018.
Wide-ranging policy changes
Changes to district policy approved this week could affect issues ranging from the school start date to attendance policies in Plano schools.
Plano ISD trustees, enabled by the state's "district of innovation" designation, on Tuesday approved a series of policy updates designed to legally exempt the district from a series of state-mandated requirements.
The policy changes include:
- The district may set an earlier start date than in years past, bypassing a state requirement that prohibits the school year from beginning prior to the fourth Monday in August.
- The district is exempt from the state's requirement that each school day last seven hours.
- The district will no longer observe state mandates that deny credit or final grades to students who have missed more than 10 percent of their classes. Instead, classroom-related factors such as test performance and projects will determine whether a student receives credit and a final grade.
- The district will no longer require teaching candidates to possess state certification for certain career and technology courses, allowing them to recruit from a broader pool industry-specific professionals.
- The district will no longer be required to weigh state-mandated test scores when evaluating teacher performance.
Administrator searches
Trustees on Tuesday agreed to bring on an interim deputy superintendent on a contract basis.
The board has called
a special meeting Friday during which trustees plan to consider and possibly take action to approve filling the position.
Trustees also empowered administrators to develop another position: senior executive director for special education services. District staff would create and list the new job, then bring an applicant before the board for approval at a later date.
