Despite conflicting information found on the District 230 website, the school board insists it is not breaking any rules regarding criteria for students’ entry into the National Honor Society.
Parent Kathleen Harrington brought up concerns at Thursday’s board meeting that some District 230 students have been disqualified for NHS entry because it has a quota that only the top 20 percent of scholarship students are eligible. She said the National Honor Society prohibits quotas.
“When it comes to scholarship, our district violates the National Honor Society’s written constitution,” she said.
Harrington quoted a Carl Sandburg Clubs and Activities National Honor Society page that said, “The NHS serves to honor students who have demonstrated excellence in the area of scholarship (top 20 percent of their class), leadership, service and character.”
The board did not respond during the meeting, but afterward Superintendent James Gay said the school uses a percentile of grade point averages and not percentage as a criteria. The district also has a Selection Criteria and Membership Requirements Page on the website that says criteria includes “status in the top 20th percentile of class based on GPA.”
“We do not do percentages,” Gay said. “Doing it by percentile is perfectly legal. We have way more than 20 percent get in. It depends on percentile rank they are in. The NHS prohibits quotas and we don’t have quotas.’’
Gay said he will look into what was written online and added the board will review the policy at the next education committee meeting, Sept. 2.
