By NICK VLAHOS
For The Weekly Post
PRINCEVILLE – Goodbye, valedictorians and class rankings. Hello, Summa Cum Laude, or something similar.
The Princeville School District is considering changing the way it honors academic achievement among its high school students. Grade-point averages still would be calculated for each student. But instead of students being ranked in their graduating class, they would receive one of three academic distinctions.
Categories are to be based on the Latin honors system. Students with final GPAs from 3.50 to 3.74 would receive Cum Laude honors. Magna Cum Laude honors would be reserved for GPAs between 3.75 and 3.99. GPAs at 4.0 or higher would be eligible for Summa Cum Laude honors.
Valedictorians and salutatorians – honors for students ranked first and second, respectively, in their classes – no longer would be recognized. Nor would be a top 10 based on class rank, as has been tradition.
The Princeville School Board approved a first reading of the proposed policy change Feb. 19. Final approval probably will be considered in March.
If authorized, the new system would begin with students in the Class of 2030. That group begins high school in the 2026-27 academic year. The class-rank system would remain for current high school students and be phased out as they graduate.
Rich Thole, the junior-senior high school principal, said the change reflects what other, nearby school districts are practicing. He also said the college-admissions process has de-emphasized high school class rank while still prioritizing GPAs.
“If you’ve got 15 or 20 kids who have busted their tails throughout their high school career and a 3.92 is recognized at the graduation ceremony as being part of a top 10 and a 3.90 is not, that just seems pretty cutthroat,” Thole said.
“Not that life isn’t that way sometimes. This is not everybody should have a participation trophy, by any means. These are pretty high GPAs we want the kids to be living up to.”
Names of the three new honors might not hew to their Latin counterparts, which are used commonly at the college level. Designations based on the Princeville mascot (Princes) are possible, according to Thole. He said the Student-Teacher Advisory Committee began discussions last September about the change.
In additional action last week, the School Board authorized a deal with Midwest Transit Equipment of Kankakee to lease two new 14-passenger buses and renew a lease for two current such buses. The two-year leases call for annual payments of $31,970 for the new buses and $27,757 for the renewed ones.
Among other items approved were:
• The tentative school calendar for 2026-27. The first day of classes is to be Aug. 12, and the final day is to be May 21.
• A $51,349 expense with CORE Construction of Peoria for design work related to a new heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system for the junior-senior high.
• An updated school-resource-officer contract with the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office. The update accounts for a change in state law that limits the officer’s ability to ticket students on school grounds.
• The high school softball team’s trip March 13-14 to a tournament in Jacksonville.
• A high school physics and calculus class trip April 24 to Eureka, Mo.
• The appointment of Nathan Wineinger as a junior-high softball assistant coach and the resignation of daycare worker Kaitlyn Storm. Those were OK’d following closed session.
