VALDOSTA — Lowndes County School Superintendent Dr. Steve Smith apologized Monday morning for any misunderstandings regarding new grading guidelines.

He said the policy is about students having a second chance, not a perpetual cycle of students re-doing work.

“Yes, we made mistakes,” Smith said during Monday morning’s press conference. Following last week’s Valdosta Daily Times article, the grading policy attracted controversy which spread to media reports across the nation.

“On behalf of our school system, I am here today to apologize for our mistakes,” Smith said; “however, I do not apologize for our commitment to success for all students.”

One of the basic tenets of the Lowndes County School System’s educational philosophy is that all students can learn, the superintendent said, but not all students learn in the same way or rate.

“Failure is unacceptable,” said Smith. “Thus evaluation, re-teaching, and re-assessment of students who fail to master the skill the first time is vital to learning and student success.”

Smith is not sure how the information got misconstrued, but explained that it was never the intention of the grading guide to permit continuous chances to test and do assignments.

“All students will be given the opportunity to learn and redo assignments,” the guide states. “Reassessment is required once for all students scoring below 70 percent.”

Smith stated that this statement in the guide was not to be taken as permitting continuous chances; rather, the grading guide only permits one second chance.

“I dare say there isn’t anybody in here who hasn’t been given a second chance,” said Smith.

Smith also addressed the controversy surrounding the guidelines for not giving zeroes.

“We discourage giving zeroes or other extremely low grades for incomplete, missing, or failing assignments as they reflect an adverse statistical inequity for a student’s final grade,” said Smith. “Instead, we suggest giving an incomplete, evaluating the reasons for the failure, re-teaching the material, and re-assessing.”

However, Smith made a point to clarify that if a student blatantly refuses to complete an assignment or demonstrates mastery on the assessment, the student will receive the score he earns.

According to Smith, the grading guide was only intended to be guidelines and not meant to alter the current grading practice.

“These guidelines were designed to clarify and communicate the correct interpretation and appropriate application of the grading practice,” said Smith.

This policy was also not made behind closed doors and without research or input.

“Over a month, the guidelines went through a series of revisions with input from principals who had the opportunity to discuss the guidelines with their staffs,” said Smith. “Principals worked collaboratively with other principals and the Central Office.”

Smith stated that two of the guidelines — counting the highest grade earned as opposed to an average of the two grades and re-doing assessments for those who passed — will not be a part of the grading practice.

“These two are variations from our established practice and may create a question of fairness to those students who did what was expected on the initial assessment,” said Smith. “They will not be a part of our grading practice and will not be included in our revised grading guidelines.”

The Lowndes County School System plans to distribute a revised grading guide to teachers and parents at a later date.

“Any new additions to our existing practice will be deleted,” said Smith. “Over the next 18 months, our staff and stakeholders will continue to evaluate our assessment and grading practice to ensure that it continues to reflect sound educational practice.”

Smith assured that any change in policy will come as a result of research, the dissemination of information to the stakeholders for feedback and a comprehensive evaluation prior to recommendation. However, as with all policies, the Board of Education makes the ultimate decision.

Fred Wetherington, the school board’s vice-chair, provided the closing remarks.

“We all, as Americans, believe in second chances,” said Wetherington.

Wetherington explained that this philosophy derives from the circumstances surrounding troubled children that enter a teacher’s classroom every day. Whether a child comes from a troubled home, has parents deployed in the military or is facing a death in the family, according to Wetherington, these second chances are designed to not allow those children to fall through the cracks.

With eight years experience serving on the board and three children in the Lowndes County School System, Wetherington has seen these circumstances first hand.

However, he also admitted that some mistakes were made.

“We did make mistakes,” said Wetherington. “We are standing up for those mistakes today.”