In the article "Grade-fixing alleged," May 6, an extremely important point was entirely missed, though the reporter did a good job of covering most issues.
The most important detail in this situation at Duanesburg High School is the fact that the Board of Education broke the contract the introductory organic chemistry students and parents were required to sign at the beginning of the 2012-13 school year.
As parents of an organic chemistry student, we can tell you this BOE-approved contract specified three things: grades would be numerical, pass/fail would not be an option, and withdrawals would have to be filed by Oct. 15 to avoid a note on the transcript.
Every one of these rules was changed when the administration was faced late in the first semester with a student's request for a withdrawal. A few students had already withdrawn by the required date.
What should the response have been when another student asked to drop the class after the deadline? The district should have told him he would get a "W" and the grade earned.
Instead, the district changed the rules and allowed the student to have a "pass" instead of a real grade. Then the district also forced all other students (who wanted to stay in the class) to receive a "pass" instead of real grades and forced them to stop the class because the board had canceled the second half of the yearlong course.
Not only was this illogical, it was dishonorable and wrong.
Anne and Ron Frey
Delanson