The Fountain Hills High School policy regarding grade replacement will see a change in the 2015 student handbook, no longer including a replaced grade in the student’s cumulative GPA.

The Governing Board voted on an amendment to the policy during the March 4 meeting, which was under consideration following parent concern earlier this year.

As it currently reads, the FHHS “repeating a course” policy includes the previous grade, as well as the new grade, in a student’s GPA.

As one local parent pointed out, the policy meant that a student’s GPA was still being pulled down by a replaced grade, negating part of the benefit of repeating a course in the first place.

The board opted not to alter the policy immediately, as it would have had an impact on current seniors’ class standing just months before the school year ends.

Instead, the board opted to have a FHHS committee discuss the policy and provide a recommendation regarding a potential change.

The recommendation was provided at the March 4 meeting, calling for a change that would remove the replaced grade from GPA calculations, but still be noted in the student’s transcript. This change would shift FHHS’ policy to fall in line with that of peer districts.

According to Superintendent Tom Lawrence, consideration was given to have the policy change begin with the incoming freshman class of 2015, but the committee decided students would be best served if it affected all classes beginning in the upcoming 2015-16 school year.

The policy revision was approved unanimously.