Number of ineligible high school students decreases

As you can imagine, discipline within the school system has changed enormously, going from corporal punishment (spanking) to a more meaningful removal of privileges (no activities) and opportunities to bring grades up.

Along with absenteeism, grades can make or break a high schooler’s career and chances of acceptance into college.

At Hot Springs County High School, the warning list for grades includes those students carrying a D or F. A student that finds themselves on the warning list can be ineligible for sports or activities until the grades are at an acceptable level.

Students are offered a number of ways to get those grades back up and become eligible again, including retaking tests or doing work over.

Data on the warning list was presented to the school board recently, comparing the first quarter and first semester last year to this year.

The end of the first quarter, 2016, shows there were 95 F grades and a total of 190 D/F grades among 104 students.

That amounts to 45 percent of the student body being on the warning list the end of the first quarter (October).

This year, however, there were just 14 F grades and a total of 43 D/F grades among 25 students. At the end of the first quarter, there was only 12 percent of the student body on the warning list.

At the end of the semester (December 13) last year, 211 D/F grades were on the books with 95 students, or 41percent of the student body.

End of semester this year (December 12), there were 34 D/F grades among 25 students, or 12 percent of the student body.

It is important to note those numbers dropped even lower by Dec. 19, the date of the school board meeting. At that date, there were 24 D/F grades among 16 students, or just 8 percent of the student body.

There has been a dramatic change in the class failure rate this year as well.

Last year in December 26 students were failing a total of 50 courses. That amounts to 11 percent of the student body.

This December, however, shows only three failed courses among two students, or 1 percent of the total student body.

One of the things encouraging students to keep those grades up is being allowed out of school just a little bit earlier on Fridays if your grades are at a certain level.

Now Principal Breeze Daniels and Dean of Students Caitlyn Deromedi are looking to improve enrichment and accelerations for students achieving high grades, giving students even more incentive to keep pushing.

The school is keeping meticulous records when it comes to discipline with students as well, not only breaking it down by grade level, but by the number of infractions which are then broken down even further to the type of infractions they are experiencing.

The top three reasons for discipline during the first semester at the high school include skipping intervention or detention (34), truancy (26) and disruptive behavior (11).

Inappropriate language, disrespect, tobacco use and refusal to work are also high on the list.

During the first nine weeks of the semester, there were a total of 56 write ups on 25 students, while the second nine weeks has 60 write ups between 39 students.