The Editor,
Re. “20% of students at summer school” (The Tri-City News, Sept. 22).
School District 43 may boast the economic benefits of having had one fifth of its student population in summer school this past season but there is a drawback or two.
It has become common for high school students to take a summer course and then repeat the same class during the school year, for example, in an effort to improve their grades, whichever way works best.
The end result is grade inflation, a serious academic problem, happening at the expense of the taxpayer, who foots the bill for all these students to go to school for free.
Perhaps SD43 should establish a more rigorous protocol at which a second chance in the same course material is — or is not — available to the student.
At any rate, taxpayers should not be on the hook for students gaming the system.
Joerge Dyrkton, Anmore
