Like nearly every place else in town, Callaway Public Schools received damage during the June hail storm. Superintendent Bryon Hanson happily reported to the school board at the July 11 meeting that the insurance adjuster has gathered all the information he needs to move forward.

The school sustained some water damage from the storm and as a result will be replacing some carpet, classroom cabinets, and some other classroom items as well as the roof. Hanson reported there was also heavy damage to some of the vehicles.

“Fleet wise we are ok to start the school year with what we have; one of our yellow buses just looks a little bit like a golf ball,” said Hanson. “We did replace the glass in the minivan and the three big vans, so if we had to run bus routes tomorrow we could. Our main focus is getting the windows on the east side of the building replaced first. We actually have damage to the frames on a lot of the windows, but realistically that might have to wait until next summer.”

Hanson said he has two roofing companies who have said they could begin the replacement within 72 hours after receiving the bid. “My goal is to have the bulk of that project done before the kids come back,” he said.

During the summer months when students are not in the building, the maintenance crew takes advantage of the empty building to get repairs completed and deep cleaning done. This summer a major project is included in the to-do list - the replacement of the school’s boiler system. And Hanson told the board that project is going extremely well, and is actually a little ahead of schedule.

The board discussed the 2022-23 student handbook, including some changes to the verbiage of the policy regarding student use of cell phones in the classroom. However, the topic that generated the most discussion among the board related to potential changes in the grading system.

Hanson explained that he compared Callaway’s system with 30 other school districts from across the state, ranging from Class D to Class A schools. “Out of the 30 schools, I did not find anyone that had a grading system like ours,” he said. “Fifteen of them had a 7-point system, 12 of them had a 10-point system, and three had a weird hybrid that somehow attempted to incorporate both, which I think is a horrible idea.”

The grading system discussion was prompted by the fact that most colleges have changed their systems, which in turn affects scholarships. “I did go back and look, and based on percentages in what some of the state universities are going to in applying scholarships, we would have had 11 that qualified. With our grading scale we had three,” Hanson explained.

Hanson presented options for a new grading scale, beginning with a 10-point scale which would make any grade below a 70 be a C- to an F, eliminating the D grade. The more traditional 10-point scale would include leaving the D and having a 60% as a passing grade.

“If we want to go to a 10-point scale, these are our two options. And I like having the plus and minus delineation,” said Hanson.

School board member Jim Phelps was the first to share his thoughts. “Before I got to this meeting we were loading trucks, and there was a young man in his early to mid 20s whose math skills were so lacking in proficiency that he could not tell me how to load his truck. He had to do it for me, because he could not do the math well enough to understand how to make weight. I don’t think we as board members should dumb down or cut corners on our job as educators in making sure that our students are prepared to enter the work force,” said Phelps. “If we had a teaching staff whose job would obviously be easier if we dumb down the standards, but don’t want us to do that, I think we should listen to that.”

Other board members expressed frustration with the State Board of Education for what they perceive as being forced to make a decision in changing the grading scale.

“I don’t appreciate the term ‘dumb down’. We are aligning to other standards. There are those smart kids who struggle in the smart classes. It doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get the scholarships that other kids are getting because of the different grading scales,” said Board President Liana Hrupek.

Most colleges and universities have gone from putting a high emphasis on ACT scores to looking more closely at GPA as a determining factor for scholarships, according to Hanson. He also shared conversations that he had with two former students at CHS who said that this school’s grading system cost them thousands of dollars because of scholarships they were missing out on.

“Had they been on a 10-point scale instead of a six or seven, they would have received more money to help pay for college,” said Hanson. “What I’m fighting for is to at least put our kids that are fighting for scholarships on equal footing with other kids across the state.”

After more than a 30-minute discussion, the board voted 4-2 to approve the student handbook as presented with Article 5 using a 10-point scale using a 70 as a C-while keeping a 69 and below as a failing grade. TR Anderson and Duane Kimball both voted no.