Missoula Public Schools Prep for Graduation Next Week, No Valedictorians This Year
Missoula’s high schools are busy as classes prepare for graduation this coming week.
"On May 31st, the Willard Alternative High School program will kick it off with the first graduation," said Missoula County Superintendent of Public Schools Mark Thane. "Then Saturday, June 2, we'll have our three urban high schools: Hellgate, Sentinal and Big Sky as well as our adult education program. we spread them out a bit, so the first one will be at 9:00 a.m. one is at 12:00 and then one is at 3:00."
Seeley-Swan High school will hold its graduation ceremony last, on June 3rd. Interestingly, Thane says that none of the schools will have a valedictorian this year.
"We had situations where we might have had multiple students in each high school that might graduate with a 4.0, and it got to the point where people were saying 'how do you evaluate whether or not one student has had a more rigorous academic program than another?'" Thane said. "So we're making a transition to, essentially, a medallion program that will take into account grade point average, community service, things like that."
Thane says the multiple students will be recognized with the medallions and that the graduation programs will also highlight students that have a 4.0 Grade point average or make the Honor Roll. Thane says Missoula has been working on shifting away from proclaiming valedictorians for four years now.