The family of a Rogers High School senior is filing for a temporary restraining order against the school district to prevent them from announcing the class valedictorian and salutatorian.
Allyson Talbott was denied valedictorian by a slim margin after a clerical error by Temple College that resulted in a dual credit grade being incorrectly provided to her high school.
Rogers ISD admitted that when Talbott's correct midterm grade was accounted for, she would have been the high school valedictorian. However, despite knowing that, the district chose not to award her the position.
Instead of making Talbott valedictorian, the district changed its mind and decided to use final grades instead of midterm grades, as it typically does, for the class ranks. When the final grades were calculated, Talbott had dropped back to number two -- with the other student being number one.
"We decided to go ahead and hire an attorney," Talbott told Channel 6 News in an email Monday. "We have filed a case under my name to attempt to receive a temporary restraining order to prevent the school from announcing that an official Valedictorian and Salutatorian has been selected at graduation until we have everything 100% solved."
In an email sent Monday evening, Rogers ISD Superintendent, Joe Craig, wrote "we have turned the information over to our school attorney who will communicate with their council."
Superintendent Craig also issued a statement on May 18, explaining the situation:
Rogers High School established class rank at the end of the 3rd Nine Weeks on March 10th. At that time, according to policy, we calculated grades as they were presented by Rogers High School teachers and Temple College. On May 15th, we were notified that a grade being reported for Allyson Talbott was incorrect. Beginning this week, we did the utmost research, with the help of Temple College, to establish what grade should have been reported. We also went to great lengths to establish who would represent the class of 2017 as the Valedictorian. The final class rank is normally not calculated until all grades are final both from Rogers High School and Temple College, forcing us to delay the awarding of the highest ranking student. With great help from the teachers at Rogers High School and the finalization of grades from both Rogers and Temple College, this year we were able to finalize class rank for both of these two students at an earlier time than we have been able to in the past. The class rank for these two students at the end of the 3rd nine weeks established [student] as the Valedictorian and Allyson Talbott as the Salutatorian. When the corrected grade was accounted for on May 15th, it resulted in the two positions to be switched. When all final grades were verified, [student] was ranked as the Valedictorian and Allyson Talbott was the Salutatorian.