Commentary by Tracy McCue — Five Cueball thoughts for June 23, 2013…

1. New GPA requirements: 

The Wellington school board’s recent move changing how valedictorian and salutatorians are selected and the class rank is a perplexing one (see story here).

Last week, the board voted to do away with the inclusion of weighted classes — i.e. honors and college preparatory courses — when determining a student’s GPA. 

There’s plenty of confusion to this story. I’ve had a few phone calls and e-mails from concerned parents who were worried that the school was doing away with these courses altogether. That is not the case. It is about how honors courses are rewarded for the students who are taking them.

For example in the past decade, if Wellington High School students took an Honors English course, and received an “A,” they would get 5.0 credits for that class. The students taking a non-honors English class could only receive a 4.0 for an A.

Thus, those students who graduated with an A in Honors English would have a GPA higher than 4.0. Those, who didn’t take an honors course, could not surpass the 4.0 threshold.

But that has changed in 2013-14. All honors classes will be worth the same as any other core curriculum class. The maximum  GPA one can receive at WHS is a 4.0.

My oldest son, who just graduated, made an interesting point. Why jeopardize your class ranking and a possible scholarship by taking an honors class, when you can take a home economics class and guarantee a higher GPA.

I had no answer for him.

What Wellington’s board seems to have removed is the incentive to take challenging courses.

The board obviously forgot why the weighted schedule was implemented at USD 353 in the first place. It was to prevent elevating students, who were taking the easy classes over those who were taking the more difficult subjects.

Is it fair for a student who had a schedule chock full of P.E., art and band classes giving a valedictorian speech to students who took the tough courses like Honors English and Chemistry?

My apologies to my readers for not delving into this subject in more detail as it was being discussed. I hope to have a follow up story soon on some form of explanation why the school board decided to adopt this policy.

For the new policy appears on the surface to be a step in the direction of mediocrity instead of rewarding excellence.

2. Your “Catchy” vote is needed …

Four Sumner County athletes are currently up for a “Catchy” award on the Catchitkansas.com web site. The Catchy is given to deserving student athletes in a specific sport based on the vote of the people.

Megan Campbell

2013 Wellington High School graduation Megan Campbell is currently up for a “Catchy” in the outstanding female track and field athlete category. Campbell, who won the Class 4A 100 and 200 meters state championship, is up against Katherine Dillard of Bishop Carroll, Heather Ruder of Thomas More Prep and Mackenzie Klaver of Norwich.

2013 Conway Springs graduate Tanner Wood is also up for the football “Catchy” award.  He is up against Riley Allen of Buhler, Chandler Shantz of Derby and Zeke Palmer of Bishop Carroll.

Chelsea Ebenkap and Stacy Sones of Conway Springs, who recently won the Class 3A state championship, are also up for a girl tennis player/duo Catchy award.

The link is here for all the sports: http://www.catchitkansas.com/sports/cik-2013-catchy-award-voting-begins-20130607,0,1868353.story. The direct link to the girls track and field poll is here: http://www.catchitkansas.com/cik-the-catchys-poll-16-20130611,0,1344865.story

Let’s get these Sumner County athlete elected. Vote early and vote often!

3. Purging… maybe. 

I saw a movie the other day with an interesting premise. The movie, “The Purge” was about the U.S. government implementing a policy to control poverty, crime and overpopulation by allowing people to murder one another without consequences for 12 hours on “Purge Day.” Then once the time period is over, everything returns to normal the rest of the year.

The principle being that if we shoot one another, we’ll cut out a lot of the undesirables – including dopers, poor people on welfare and a-hole bosses and neighbors.

I can just imagine how bloody a Purge would be here in Wellington. Judging from last week’s rancor in the comment sections of the various website stories, there seems to be a lot of hostility amongst some locals.

4. Wheat harvest. 

If you have never been involved with wheat harvest, here are a few things to remember:

•You can always tell who the owner of the farm is. He’s the one who just recently turned into Attila the Hun. He returns to sanity when the last bit of wheat has been cut.

•If you are driving a combine – it will be the first to break down. •Don’t drink and drive a grain cart. There’s a bit of coordination required to running it.

•A rainstorm in the middle of harvest is a welcome relief for the hired worker – not so much for the owner – i.e. Attila the Hun.

•And anyone who has ever had to drive a Gleaner “L” series combine made in the 1970s, should automatically be granted governmental assistance. They have suffered enough.

5. Shout out of the week. 

This week’s shout out goes to the cast of Peter Pan in perhaps the greatest Wellington Community Theater production yet. The play is proof there is more than a lot young talent in this community.

Bonus: Quinn’s thoughts

Quinn, my 11-year-old son, is at it again. Here he goes…

1. My favorite fruit are apples.

2. My favorite color is orange.

3. My favorite sports are swimming, soccer, and chess. ( and yes, chess is considered a sport.)

4. My favorite book is Spy School.

5. Now thats done my last thought is about the play Peter Pan I’m in. Today at 2:30 was our last performance so if you haven’t watched it, you missed it. The doors opened at 2 o’clock and it was at the Wellington High school. If you saw me I hope you enjoyed it. I was a lost boy named curly. it was fun.