Kettle Run High School opened its doors for its second school year on August 24, 2009. While the majority of its policies have remained the same, some key elements that have a direct affect on students have changed.

One of the major changes is the exam exemption policy. Instead of having an ‘A’ and three absences, or a ‘B’ and two absences to be exempt from final exams, students are able to have four absences with an ‘A’ and three absences with a ‘B’. “A day was added to the exam exemption policy to give kids more flexibility,” Principal Major Warner said.

Students see this as an overall positive change, as some absences are inevitable. Freshman Tori Lindsey sees the change as more feasible, as students who are sick tend to stay out of school for more than one day. “If you’re sick, you’re going to be out for [at least] two days,” Lindsey said.

Others see the addition of an extra day as a way to cut a little more slack for students who get good grades. “The addition of one day to the exemption policy will positively affect me, [because] I use my absence days as mental health days,” senior Lindsey Herman said. “It’s nice to know that there won’t be exam consequences for the days I have to stay home.”

Also, the ten-point grading scale, while widely discussed, has just been put into effect for the 2009-2010 school year in all Fauquier County Public Schools. With this change, students who receive a 90 and above get A’s in class, 80 and above receive B’s, and so on. “[It] was great news for me,” junior Brendan Rijke said. “This allows more leniencies for students who have borderline grades. Now, Fauquier students can compete with surrounding counties that have similar grading scales.”

But some students see it as both a positive and a negative. “I think the change is positive because most colleges don’t understand that our 7-point grading system was more competitive than [that of] most schools,” Herman said. “It’s negative because it lowers the standards. Students need to be prepared for competition in college and society. I’m still aiming for a 94 though – that has been my standard for 12 years now, and I’m not trying to get complacent.”

Also, the Kettle Run tardy policy has changed to allow parents to excuse five tardies per marking period, instead of ten. This change was made to keep Kettle Run’s tardy policy in line with that of Fauquier and Liberty High Schools. This policy hasn’t affected the many of students, though, as most take buses, or they drive to school themselves, making them ineligible for parents’ excuse. At the same time, for the students it does affect, they will have to cut their tardiness virtually in half.

All in all, the new policies seem to be well-received by students, and transitions have been rather smooth, partly because, while definitely beneficial, the changes don’t completely alter Kettle Run’s policies. “[Besides these reforms], everything else is pretty much the same,” Warner said.