by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the June 8 Franklin County School Board meeting, board member Sarah Marhevsky asked the board to revisit the policy governing enrollment in high school advanced placement and honors courses. A policy change last year resulted in what Marhevsky called “a shift in how students could get in.” Previously teacher recommendation weighed in the decision. At present, to qualify for an honors course a student must have received a grade of B or higher in the non-honors section of the course and must also meet or exceed the grade level standards on the TCAP or OEC assessment. “We all know students who aren’t great testers,” Marhevsky said. “My goal is to find different ways to approach this.”

Marhevsky argued being denied enrollment in an honors or AP class could hurt a student’s college admission prospects. “Colleges look at the kind of courses a student is taking based on what their school offers,” she explained. The college the student hoped to attend would give less weight to the significance of receiving “all A’s” if the student did not take honors courses when they were available.

Marhevsky pointed to other school districts which used criteria in addition to the TCAP benchmark in weighing a student’s qualification for honors course enrollment: a grade of 80 percent or higher; a grade of C or higher and teacher or parent recommendation; a point system where a student was scored on a combination of grades, TCAP assessment, and recommendation. She cautioned against giving too much weight to middle-school TCAP scores when determining eligibility for a high school honors course, arguing middle-school scores “don’t accurately reflect a students’ ability.” She cited statistics showing district-wide middle school TCAP scores were significantly lower than elementary school and high school TCAP scores.

“We can give this to our committee, to reassess, and then get back to us,” said Board Chair CleiJo Walker. “It needs to go before the ones who deal with these programs in the schools, because they’re the ones who came up with the rubrics for this policy.”

In other business, the board approved the Fees List for Franklin County and Huntland high schools for the 2026-2027 school year.

Board member Sara Leichty questioned the $750 fee for cheerleading. “That’s a lot of money,” Marhevsky said. “I don’t want any child to feel they can’t participate.” “I don’t believe that’s happening,” replied FCHS Principal Britney Butner. Butner said parents of former cheerleaders often stepped up to help with costs. “They do a lot of fundraising,” Walker said. The fee includes $650 for cheerleading camp.

Asked about the $100 Marching Band fee at Huntland High School, Principal Lisa Crabtree said, “Our fee in the past had been $60.” She attributed the fee increase to the increase in the cost of repairing instruments and purchasing music.

The Legislative Update included information on several bills recently passed by the legislature which had received little attention. One new bill allows school boards to interview candidates for the position of Director of Schools in a closed executive session. Another new bill provides for a board of nine teachers who will be allowed to review the TCAP test questions. Vice Chair Lance Williams questioned the value of the practice, since no information was given on the reviewer teachers selection process and how the reviewers would share information.

A bill which did not pass would allow students to attend any public school of their family’s choice. Marhevsky said she anticipates the legislature will revisit the bill. She questioned whether the state funding would follow the child or stay with the district of residence.