LEUSD Considers Cutting Valedictorians To One Per High School

The Lake Elsinore Unified School District Board is trying to find a way to reduce the number of valedictorians at high school graduations without discouraging students who have grade point averages of 4.0 or better.

The board plans to take action on the matter sometime in August.

More students are scoring higher and that means LEUSD high schools typically recognize between 11 and 20 valedictorians per school site. Most other high schools in the area recognize only the highest GPA student as being the valedictorian.

“It’s more prestigious to be the one,” said district Superintendent Frank Passarella at the regular school board meeting last week.

But Alain Guevara, assistant superintendent for instructional support services, warned that if the number is reduced to one, the board will hear from parents of students with 4.0-or-better averages.

Guevara told the board that district high school students are achieving more 4.5s and 4.8s.

Students can up their GPA by enrolling in advanced placement courses, which provide more grade points than non-AP courses. Generally, GPA is calculated from 9th through 12th grades.

Guevara said the district might want to phase in the valedictorian reductions. The district is also considering alternate ways to honor 4.0-or-better GPA students if only one valedictorian is selected.

At the nearby Murrieta Valley Unified School District, only one valedictorian is selected per high school. At this year’s Vista Murrieta High School graduation, Timothy Earr was valedictorian with a GPA of 4.62.

But Earr invited his friend Wesley Wong, who had a GPA of 4.42, to speak at the ceremony.

Guevara said students in the Lake Elsinore district are moving toward world-class status where the GPA goal will be 5.0 instead of 4.0.