Caledonia Argus

Honor roll names should be public

Posted: 2/4/03

For years school people have been preaching the need to give students positive reenforcement to build up their self-esteem. Now along comes a high school principal, Joe Brown from Austin, who wants to stop the public from knowing who is on the school honor roll.

This fuzzy thinking is based on the premise the public doesnít have a right to know whoís doing well in school. Brown says not every A and B student is on the honor roll, because it doesnít include the kids who have a discipline or legal record. . Therefore, the public, Brown says, is able to deduct what honor roll students are in trouble.

What sense does it make to deny the honor of being publicly acknowledged, simply because names of the few disciplined students are missing? Moreover, Brown says heís bothered because by revealing who is on the A or B honor roll, the public can figure out who isnít on it. That could be a data privacy issue for the C, D and F students.

Austin parents should be up in arms over a decision that takes away deserved recognition from students who study and get good grades. Thatís what school is all about.

Brown is bothered by the calls he gets from a grandmother who wants to know why her presumably disciplined grandchild isnít on the honor roll. The flustered principal has no defense but to say he canít discuss the matter because of the data privacy law. Why doesnít he just tell the grandmother to ask her wayward grandson.

If we were to carry this thinking to its logical scenario, Austin High School shouldnít release any information about the students. Donít release the roster on the choir, because one student may have been disciplined and could be identified by the process of elimination. Donít release the play cast on the high school play bill because one disciplined student who should be on it isnít. because he or she has been disciplined. Donít release the starting line-up for the football team because the starting quarterback wonít be on it; he ës been suspended for drinking.

Principal Brown apparently doesnít understand that Austin High School is the publicís school, not his. The public, and certainly the press, believes that all documents in the school, except those covered by the data privacy law, are public and should be released to the public.

The principal wants to award private certificates to honor students; let parents alert the media if they want the recognition for their child, he suggests.

Furthermore, good students are recognized at graduation, he insists. Wait a minute. Publishing the list of graduates will be unfair, because some who didnít complete the requirements wonít be on it. By process of elimination, the public will be able to figure out who those derelict students are.

We trust the Austin School Board and public will stop this kind of reasoning and continue to release information the public has a right to during this time when schools are being asked to become more accountable on how well students are being taught.

Öby Don Heinzman, editorial contributor for ECM Publishers, Inc.

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