By Bill Grubb

ROGERSVILLE - After an extended debate earlier in June on the merits of mandatory final exams, it took just a few minutes Monday for the Hawkins County Board of Education to scrap the concept.
    The meeting was a continuation of the June 11 meeting, which was recessed and not adjourned, in order to allow the board to gather information and determine whether or not to insert the new exam policy in the middle and high school handbooks.
    The proposed policy change stated: "Final exams will be administered in all classes.  Final exams (end-of-course where appropriate) will count 20 percent of the students's final grade in the class.  The students's final exam will be kept on file by the teacher of record for one semester after the administration of the exam."  
    At the June 11 meeting, board member Perry Dykes offered his opinion students are "already tested to death."  Director of Schools Charlotte Britton countered middle and high school level final exams would help prepare students for college exams and would help students retain what they had learned in a class.
    At the regular board meeting Dykes said he had also heard concerns about the policy from Cherokee High School Principal Patrick Fraley and Volunteer High School Principal Jim Dykes, who were not at the regular board meeting.  The two principals did attend Monday's meeting and both agreed the policy should be put on hold, at least for the 2009-10 school year.  Board member Debbie Shedden said Clinch Principal Linda Long also agreed with the delay.
    "In looking at this we felt like it wasn't a good time to start this right now," the VHS principal said.  "We don't have time to correlate this with Cherokee.  It is not something I would recommend right now."
    Dykes also noted both high schools are preparing for the first year of the freshmen academy and suggested the policy change is something that should be delayed and possibly considered as a change for the 2010-11 school year.
    The current policy states that high school students can opt out of up to five final exams per semester if they carried a "C" average or better in the class, had two or fewer absences, and no more than two tardies. There currently is no middle school policy for final exams.
    The board unanimously voted to keep the current exam policy and revisit any change next year.