From: Cindy Pangborn <cindypangborn@gmail.com>
Date: August 19, 2015 at 6:48:01 PM EDT
To: Judy Gafa <gafaj@gpschools.com>
Cc: Margaret Weertz <weertzm@aol.com>, Jon Dean <Michael.Dean@gpschools.org>, Brian Summerfield <Summerb@gpschools.com>, Lois Valente <valentl@gpschools.com>, Daniel Roeske <roesked@gpschools.com>, "Christian Fenton" <Christian.Fenton@gpschools.org>, <gary.niehaus@gpschools.org>, "<ahmed@portraitplacegpw.com>" <ahmed@portraitplacegpw.com>, Judy Gafa <gafaj@gpschools.com>
Subject: Re: NHS and College admissions

Dear Fellow Board members and administrators,

We have had complaints from parents about NHS that have gone to administration for at least five years.  The problem is that we do not have the same criteria for both schools...the criteria should be identical.  The complaint by students and parents has been that it is not fair for one school to have different criteria and in some of these cases, their child qualified under one of the GP high schools  but not at the other. Is there an argument for the schools having different criteria ? With the concern of bridging the gap between North and South,this would be a quick way to start remedying those concerns. It has always been said, " we are a school system not a system of schools". This is such an easy fix ...same rules...should have been remedied years ago...end of story. Have the faculty members in charge, look at their requirements and come up with one set of rules for both schools...should take less than an hour...than publish the rules on our web site and all media that we use for information, and happily move forward.

Thank you,

Cindy
Sent from my iPad

On Aug 19, 2015, at 4:34 PM, Judy Gafa <gafaj@gpschools.com> wrote:

Dear Fellow Board Members,

The topic of NHS and equity at the high schools has come up again.  There has been no change from the previous communication, but I did reach out to our high school counsellors about the impact NHS membership has on admission criteria and what admission officers are looking for as our students apply to college. Below is my email to the counsellors and Beth Walsh-Sahutskes response,  I have included Rebecca Fannon in case other community members have question regarding this issue.  

Respectfully

Judy Gafa

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Walsh-Sahutske, Beth <Elizabeth.Walsh-Sahutske@gpschools.org>
Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Subject: NHS and College admissions
To: Judy Gafa <gafaj@gpschools.com>, "Skelly, Barbara" <Barbara.Skelly@gpschools.org>
Cc: "Niehaus, Gary" <Gary.Niehaus@gpschools.org>, "Dean, Jon" <Michael.Dean@gpschools.org>


Hi Judy

Highly selective colleges really do not put any admissions weight on membership in the National Honor Society (or any other individual club or organization) in and of itself.  While it is a wonderful organization and has unifying central tenants, there are not universal standards for NHS admission or retention.  The best thing about NHS is the Service, Leadership and Academic work that kids put in to gain/retain membership.  These are what colleges will be independently auditing per student to support admissions.  Thankfully these are not exclusively available to NHS so I hope all students are striving to hit these marks.  I have actually voiced my concern that membership in this one club is on our transcript.

There is a good parallel with grade point average comparisons among high schools.  Some schools inflate these numbers and others remain pretty true to form.  Universities take a holistic view of the student and look beyond the number to see what that data point really means for that individual.  Comparisons with alumni trends, standardized tests scores and the like complete that picture.

I hope that helps!

Beth

________________________________
From: Judy Gafa [gafaj@gpschools.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2015 2:22 PM
To: Skelly, Barbara; Walsh-Sahutske, Beth
Cc: Niehaus, Gary; Dean, Jon
Subject: NHS and College admissions

Good afternoon Beth and Barb,
We have had an inquiry from a board member who was concerned about NHS members not being granted equal opportunity for college admissions between the two high schools.  My understanding is that both North and South require a higher standard GPA when being accepted into NHS.  When students apply to college obviously their GPA is part of the application process, my question is, do admission officers look at what the requirement is for each high school across America as they begin to accept students, or do they have a general understanding of the 4 NHS pillars and that any NHS student is meeting the national standards?
Thank you for your time
Judy Gafa