So often we take small acknowledgments for granted. Consider the
high school honor roll, for example.
So often we take small acknowledgments for granted. Consider the high school honor roll, for example.
Earlier this year, we gave the San Benito High School administrators and board members who suspended the district’s honor roll a failing grade in common sense.
We’re glad to see that the high school’s board and administrators have since changed their policy and are once again publishing an honor roll.
The honor roll had been suspended several years ago after concerns about legal issues such a student confidentiality popped up.
It’s unfortunate that it took so long for administrators and board members to realize that the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act doesn’t prohibit schools from releasing an honor roll, which offers some public recognition for hard-working, successful students.
The law was created to protect students’ privacy, much like other laws protect our medical history.
However, that protection shouldn’t – and thankfully, doesn’t – mean that we have to live in fear of lawsuits each time we put out an honor roll.
An honor roll is one of those things that can really make a big difference.
It is an opportunity to let students know that someone has noticed their hard work.
Especially in a school the size of San Benito High School, it is all too easy for students to slip through the cracks, or at least feel like they have.
The honor roll is positive reinforcement for those students who have taken the time to do their homework, studied for the tests and excelled to get some much deserved recognition. It is a real positive for our kids and our community.
That recognition is important for students not just in terms of recognition.
Listing that on a college application can also make a difference.
Honor rolls are also important to parents and grandparents, who love collecting these acknowledgments of achievement and saving them in scrapbooks and elsewhere.
Not only are we proud of the students who made the first semester honor roll, but we also are proud of the district administrators, staffers, teachers and others who advocated for the policy change.
It is important for people to take a stand and work to make things right.
If we let things like the honor roll fall from fashion out of fear of lawsuits, then what is next?
