ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. — Anne Arundel County students applying for scholarships and college admissions will have to wait until May 20 to learn if they'll regain access to class rankings—a delay that has some worried about missing crucial deadlines.
Anne Arundel County's Board of Education pushed the vote on Wednesday night to review bringing back the class ranking system, after getting rid of it in 2019.
The policy was meant to reduce student stress and improve mental health. It took effect in the 2020-2021 school year.
A motion was made to postpone the vote until a board meeting on May 20, citing that some board members still needed to review the grading handbook.
Concerns were raised that students are currently filling out scholarship applications, and delaying this process could impact them.
Michelle Fadele, a senior at Chesapeake High School, spoke during the public comment section, saying that not knowing your class rank deprives students, especially in academic spaces.
"Saying yes means access and saying yes means choice. So board members, I ask you to consider bringing class rank back."
Wednesday's meeting was the third reading of the policy, which would permit the calculation of a student's class rank upon the student's or the student's parent/guardian's request for scholarship, university, post-secondary, or career-readiness applications.
Superintendent Dr. Mark Bedell recommended approving the policy. Other board members suggested postponing the vote to a later meeting.
Gloria Dent, the President of the Board, supported the vote being postponed, saying, it's a policy that comes with a lot of emotions that surround it.
"There is not an event that I went to yet that I have not talked about class rank, grading policy in some shape, form or fashion since this policy started. So I support us taking time to get it right."
Brayden Morgan, representing the student on the board, suggested postponing the vote only until May 6 to better accommodate students waiting to complete scholarship applications.
"There's a lot of students, even who messaged me and said, 'Can you let me know the second after the meeting ends?'"
The board debated whether to postpone to May 6 or May 20, but ultimately decided in a 6-2 vote on the latter date.
