Student files lawsuit over school grade

the times herald ^ | 2/16/03 | HANNAH NEWTON

[freepatriot32]

MEMPHIS -- A Memphis High School senior is suing the school district to get a grade overturned, a restraining order on class rankings and $25,000.

Brian Delekta filed the lawsuit Friday claiming he wasn't given the grade he had earned, which could keep him from being class valedictorian. Delekta ended the 11th grade in 2002 ranked top in his class.

[OrioleFan]

Our school system has a plan where you can take classes at local colleges or you can take honors or scholarship AP classes at the High School. The only real reasons to take the college classes is for the experience, and because the honors class at the high school is not available either because it is not offered, or not enough students signed up for it. Your college course grade counts like a regular grade, where the AP grades are weighted. My problem with the college courses is that this is a State of Ohio unfunded mandate - I believe the local school district picks up the tuition and books costs. Students are made aware of the grading issue going into the programs. This twerp needs to get nailed for filing a frivilous lawsuit, and his family gets to pick up the costs.

[montag813]

Diane Delekta is representing her son. The suit calls for class rankings, scheduled to be released Monday, to be frozen until the complaint is settled.

What a dirtbag this bitch is. She's a "mother" alright.

[xm177e2]

Has anyone actually read the technical details of the article before going off on a tear against lawyers? The student--who had an A+ average in all other classes--took a work experience class that was not required, and got an A in it--but an "A" was the highest grade possible (and A+s count for more). So any student who takes work experience by definition can't be a co-valedictorian, if there are other students with A+s in every class.

It's not fair to deny a student valedictorianship because they took a certain class--in fact, it's ridiculous. This kid has a claim to being harmed (loss of scholarship money, harder time getting into universities, etc.).

The question is, are public schools allowed to be unfair?

[Just mythoughts]

"only real reason to take the college classes is for the experience"


These students take college classes and get no college credit. How dumb can that be?

The honors or scholarship AP classes are better than college classes?

What is wrong with the school district that accepts unfunded mandates that are worthless?

[Just mythoughts]

School districts can and will do whatever serves their own purposes. They have "UNION" clout.

[CommerceComet]

I once served on a University-wide Committee on Academic Probation. Students who had two consecutive semesters on academic probation were automatically denied admission to the university the next semester. This automatic denial could be overturned by professional advisors after a meeting with the student. If the student was denied admission by the advisor, he or she could appeal to our committee.

We heard the appeal of a young lady who by her own admission spent all her time in sorority activities and seldom studied. Her immaturity was evident. She gave us no plausible reason to overturn the decision of the professional advisor. Her appeal was denied.

The next day, I got a call from an official in the admissions office who had just spent a couple hours dealing with this girl's mother, an attorney. As it became more evident that her daughter's case was not going to overturned by this administrator, she started using that magic three-letter word that chills the blood of all college administrators. Our committee was asked to reconsider her case which would be presented by her mother this time. We were told that we were to apply our professional judgement but please, please don't get us sued.

We re-heard the appeal. Our committee informed the mother that every committee member felt that her daughter would much better off spending a semester or two at a community college and then reapply but that if she was sure that it was in her daughter's best interest, we would let her be re-admitted. We imposed 3-4 reasonable conditions on the daughter the violation any of which would preclude subsequent re-admission. The mother agreed to this. Need I tell how this turned out? The daughter achieved a 0.0 GPA the next semester.

[Arpege92]

Naaaa......Florida!

[FourPeas]

It's not fair to deny a student valedictorianship because they took a certain class--in fact, it's ridiculous.

Perhaps the boy should have learned the grading criteria before taking the class? It's not unfair, the two entities simply use a different grading scale. That's the way it goes.

Besides, the boy received an "A+" from his mom, the same woman not threatening to sue because her little boy didn't get his way. Also, let's not overlook the potential for nepositm.

[Johnny Gage]

wah wah wah... obivously already planning on voting for people in this party.

[dfwgator]

I always thought that instead of letter grades, grades should be a number up to 100. That way a 90 and a 100 are not treated the same. That's the way it works in real life, and the sooner that is ingrained into students, the better.

[stylin19a]

Diane Delekta said the intermediate school district has a checklist of things it requires in a work program. "It was what he would do if he were a paralegal in a law office," she said. "He prepared documents, met with clients."

How does doing what you are suppose to do earn an A+ ?
If he did none of the things on the list, would he have gotten only an A ?

[xm177e2]

Besides, the boy received an "A+" from his mom, the same woman not threatening to sue because her little boy didn't get his way. Also, let's not overlook the potential for nepositm.

He got an A+ in every single other class, let's not come out with silly accusations. The problem is that valedictorianship is not calculated by purely academic classes (with extra emphasis on honors/AP classes). That's how the UC system in California calculates students' GPAs.

[FourPeas]

He got an A+ in every single other class

I don't see anywhere in the article where it says this. Perhaps you can help me.

[FourPeas]

Besides the ISD class, Brian Delekta is in dual-enrollment classes at Port Huron's St. Clair County Community College, grades from which won't affect his grade-point average.

Notice, also, that the boy and his mom aren't complaining that the grades from his community college classes aren't calculated in his GPA. Funny, mine were.

It's just a tad bit too coincidental that they are so worked-up over one grade and not the others.

[xm177e2]

I don't see anywhere in the article where it says this.

An "A" instead of an "A+" cost him being a valedictorian, I assume he got all A+s or damn near that. What with grade inflation as it is, there are usually multiple valedictorians at a school, all with perfect scores.

[FourPeas]

I assume...

You really didn't type that, did you?

[xm177e2]

That I will go for, sort of. The downside to allowing college grades is that college material tends to be more difficult and grades tend to be less inflated--it would discourage students from taking college courses if that would sink their chances of becoming valedictorian. Everyone should compete on a level playing field, with the same basic set of classes being taken into account.

[FourPeas]

The downside to allowing college grades is that college material tends to be more difficult and grades tend to be less inflated--it would discourage students from taking college courses if that would sink their chances of becoming valedictorian.

You know, it didn't with me. At 16, I was taking 200 level Chemistry classes -- pre-med weed-out classes. I received B's and C's; my GPA tanked. Still, I was smart enough to know that getting a good education was much more important than one number. Of course, colleges look at that number, but it is part of an overall portfolio of information. Even with a less than stellar GPA, due entirely to college grades, I was able to win a three-year full tuition scholarship.

The mom is doing a great disservice to her son. Life is not fair. You can spend your life complaining about it and trying to sue everyone who doesn't treat you fairly, or you can learn to be an adult about it. Throwing around the f-word (fair) like it's the be-all and end-all of life is a liberal trait, not a conservative one.

The Rules were against him, yet he worked for his mom anyway. Let the chips fall where they may; it was his choice (with obvious input from his mom/parents).

[xm177e2]

Good points. Even if the kid has something of a point, it isn't nearly appropriate to file a lawsuit over. I wonder how many colleges will accept a student likely to sue them?

[SwordofTruth]

The "Valedictorian" in my high school class went so far as to deliberately skip a couple of gym classes so that she would get a "PASS" instead of an "A" which would be only worth 4 points instead of the 5 points her honors classes were worth. The PASS wasn't factored in....an "A" would have lowered her GPA. I understand that she's a lawyer now....

An 'A' should be the highest grade anyone can receive. Giving someone more than an 'A' just because it is an honors class makes the "honors" class nothing more than an extra credit class. Ridiculous!