Unit 40 Board Agrees to Consider "+'s" and "-'s" in Determining GPA

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Published on July 25 2019 9:38 am
Last Updated on July 25 2019 9:42 am
Written by Greg Sapp

The Effingham Unit 40 Board of Education has agreed to use +'s and -'s in calculating student grade point averages.

Up to now, an A+, A or A- each counted as four points in calculating GPA. Under a proposal offered by school board member Robin Klosterman and approved by the Board at this week's meeting, here's how GPA will now be calculated:

Converting GPA to a 4.0 Scale

Unit 40

Grading Scale

Letter Grade

Proposed

4.0 Scale

100-99

A+

4.0

98-92

A

4.0

91-90

A-

3.7

89-88

B+

3.3

87-82

B

3.0

81-80

B-

2.7

79-78

C+

2.3

77-72

C

2.0

71-70

C-

1.7

69-68

D+

1.3

67-62

D

1.0

61-60

D-

0.7

59-0

F

0.0

*4.0 Scale adapted from Conversion Scales of the CollegeBoard & Princeton Review.

Comparing the two methods for gpa calculation

Course Grades

Current GPA Scale

Proposed GPA Scale

A- A- A- A-

4.00

3.70

     A   A A B+

3.75

3.83

     B+ B+ B+ C

2.75

2.98

The change in GPA calculations will take effect with this year's incoming freshman class; sophomores through seniors' GPAs will still be calculated under the previous method.

This change does not affect the District's grading scale; in fact, GPA calculations will now reflect the grading scale in use in Unit 40.

The Unit 40 Board also approved health insurance coverage for the coming year. The coverage will still be through Blue Cross Blue Shield, but some adjustments were made to lower the increase in premiums. The Board agreed to include a vision plan and to allow the employees, at their cost, to increase their life insurance coverage. All of the coverage will be under the BCBS umbrella, which reduced the premium increase from 10.8% to 7.2%. The Board also agreed to review whether to let health insurance coverage out for bids next year.

Board members agreed to allow Unit 40 students to participate as an EHS team in Clay Target competition. The student will have to waive any District liability and will provide proof of liability coverage. Superintendent Mark Doan said the clay target team will not be an IHSA-sanctioned squad; it'll be more like a club volleyball or AAU team. Doan said some EHS students competed on other schools' teams last year, now they'll have their own team.

The Unit 40 board also approved salary adjustments for non-union and non-certified staff members. Doan said it would be 55 cents an hour; the same as union employees received. There was no action on administrative salaries; the Board will consider those salaries at a meeting coming up in August.