BY MATTHEW E. MILLIKEN

mmilliken@heraldsun.com; 419-6684

DURHAM -- A set of proposed changes to Durham's middle- and high-school grading policies drew mixed reviews Thursday night.

The revisions could affect everything from whether poor attendance, misbehavior and academic misconduct may be factored into grades and whether students could receive first-quarter grades below 60, as is now the case, to whether students could be exempted from final exams in elective courses in which they maintain C or better averages and have up to three absences, as would happen if the proposal passes.

The changes would also guarantee that all finals are worth 25 percent of the course grade and that students get to make up missed assignments.

Melissa Lawrence was somewhat skeptical. "When they start college, it's going to be a rude awakening -- having so many opportunities to turn in assignments, not getting zeroes," said Lawrence, a pulmonary education coordinator at UNC Chapel Hill.

Aaron Kreizman, a sophomore at Jordan High School, did not like the policy change that would require that all classes have finals, including electives.

"I think that it should be at the discretion of maybe the teacher or the department at the school," Kreizman said.

Audra Slavin, a financial officer at UNC Chapel Hill, and Alan Slavin, a Chatham County elementary school teacher, also objected to allowing students in electives who have earned Bs and Cs to be exempted from finals if they have two or fewer absences to that point in the class. (Students with As may miss up to three classes.)

"Don't we want all of our kids to reach for the highest?" Audra Slavin asked.

Concern was also voiced about students with excused absences not being exempted from finals and sick students jeopardizing others by coming to school in order to get the exemption. But there was also positive feedback.

The remarks were made at a community meeting convened by the district to get public input on the set of changes. Comments collected Thursday will be reviewed by principals and middle- and high-school reform group members to see if any tinkering is needed before the revisions go to the school board for approval in April. The aim is to have the policies in place by May or June.

Chris Bennett, the Durham school district's assistant superintendent for secondary education, said that he heard a lot of positive comments.

But he indicated that negative remarks were not likely to lead to altering the elective exemption policy. "I think if you start putting in any kind of flexibility into the policy, the policy has no weight, and it becomes difficult to enforce," said Bennett, noting that other districts' exemption policies had been reviewed.

Bennett noted that local secondary principals feel the exemption incentive will help reverse declines in high school attendance.

Rogers-Herr Middle School Principal Drew Sawyer, whose facility hosted the event, observed that the grading revisions are new to most Durhamites.

"It's a paradigm shift from subjectivity to objectivity with grading," Sawyer said. "It's a process, and I think we're at the middle of the process as educators but the beginning of the process as a community."