Computer Glitch was Difference Between Pass and Fail
According to Smith, the disqualification of so many students was the result of a miscalculation in the school’s electronic tallying system. Those discrepancies were compared with manual averages derived by each teacher which showed that a majority of those sixty-six fourth formers were indeed passing. Senator Smith says that all the teachers and board members needed to do was to communicate with each other to avoid having to take such measures.
Isani Cayetano
“Now we understand that as many as sixty-six fourth form students were deemed ineligible for graduation because they did not meet the requirements. Something seems totally wrong, if I may, in terms of this number of students not being able to graduate. Do you find this to be irregular for any high school institution in the country?”
On the Phone: Elena Smith, National President, B.N.T.U.
“I believe, as was explained to me, that there seems to have been a glitch in the system that the school uses and so when final grades or averages were generated there seem to have been several mistakes with those final averages. So the manual grades that the teachers had for some students are different from what the system produced. And so the system was showing some students as failing, while the teachers in their grade books, their manual calculations that they had were showing that students were passing. So it seemed to have been a matter of a glitch in the system and that has to be worked out and it might not be as bad as it seems. I think for us, communication is key when we have issues such as these or any other concerns from staff and it is very important that board gives themselves time to hear the teachers out because a lot of time the teachers are trying to resolve the issues but they are not given the opportunity to share those suggestions or to assist in resolving the issues and so we see where in this instance, just a simple meeting with the staff to discuss the matter, they were able to a resolution within a two to three-hour span.”
Things are expected to return to normal by Tuesday of next week.
