The Palo Alto Unified School District school board is focusing again today on the controversial and highly debated decision to post weighted GPAs for colleges.

Last Tuesday, the school board met to discuss whether another meeting should be held to talk about weighted GPAs, a topic that has sparked great contention over whether this will benefit or hinder the graduating Class of 2017.

School Board member Ken Dauber challenged the consensus by motioning to delay the decision until after the newly elected board members replace Camille Townsend and Heidi Emberling.

“Are we expected to make decisions?” Dauber said. “I would prefer to wait until new board members are seated if we are going to be making decisions.”

Emberling reiterated that the board was discussing a time-sensitive issue and their resolution should come within the following week.

“I think the board gave guidance to make sure that weighted GPA would be offered for this year’s seniors,” Emberling said. “The questions are what does that mean and why is it meaningful,” Emberling said. This year’s seniors need clarifications before the due dates of Dec. 1.”

Superintendent Max McGee came out in favor of waiting, saying this was a decision that couldn’t be rushed and needed consultation from other experienced advisers.

“We have yet to hear from the college counselors and our teachers and our administrators,” McGee said. “They know the colleges better than anyone else in this room and we cannot make this decision without them.” 

The board eventually came to the consensus that the meeting would be held the following Monday to explicitly come to an agreement on whether to put a cap on the amount of unweighted credited classes to be included in a students’ weighted GPA.

While the decision to post weighted GPAs is still confirmed, the meeting may give an opportunity for people to voice their concerns over this impactful policy, directly with the school board.