Hornstine V. Moorestown - Valedictorian Controversy

Valedictorian Controversy

Under the published school board policy for the 2002-2003 academic year, the graduating senior student with the highest seventh semester weighted grade point average (GPA) was to be named the valedictorian, and the second highest student was to be named the salutatorian. At the end of the fall 2002 semester, the seventh for her class, Blair Hornstine had the highest weighted grade point average in the senior class, 4.689, a score 0.055 higher than the runner-up's 4.634.

In the fall of 2002, Moorestown Superintendent of Schools Paul J. Kadri was approached by “parents, students, and other community members” who complained that “students were not provided equal opportunities to earn the awards” because of accommodations granted to Hornstine. Kadri held meetings at the high school in early 2003 in which he discussed changing the school policy to allow multiple valedictorians. In April, Kadri proposed an amendment to the existing policy that read "In determining the recipients of, the Board may review the program of study, manner of instruction, and other relevant issues, and in its discretion, with the assistance of the administration, may designate multiple valedictorians and/or salutatorians to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to compete for these awards." The proposal was to be voted on by the school board on May 12.