Editor's Note: This is the second in a two-part series.

Christopher Schiffert has a note in front of his computer with two names on it: Mary Brand and Megan Berner.

"I'm still deciding how I want to reach out to those two girls," said Schiffert, Whitehall High School principal, during an interview Monday. "I want to do the right thing for them."

Brand and Berner were valedictorian and salutatorian respectively for the Class of 2012. However, because of shifts in class rank during the final marking period, they did not assume those roles during graduation ceremonies in June.

Three other students, Annemarie Hartzell, Keri Lindenmuth and Chad Wagner also were affected. They graduated believing they were not in the top 10, only to find out differently when final transcripts arrived in July. They received letters of apology because the top 10 had been specially honored with an awards dinner as well as $150 each from the now-defunct Whitehall Exchange Club.

Brand and Berner did not receive letters because they remained in the top 10, Schiffert said. In retrospect, however, he realizes they missed out on the honors that go with being ranked one and two.

"It's very upsetting to me because I do know some of these kids very well," Schiffert said. "I don't know that anybody except them and their parents were as upset as me."

The reason he has the note sitting on his desk is because he refuses to allow the issue to be dropped internally.

"I do need my district administration to support what I want to do," said Schiffert. That is, he wants to send Brand and Berner each a personal, hand written note of apology along with the medals they should have received.

He had hoped to have the action approved earlier this week, but the beginning of the school year – classes start Sept. 4 – has come with many issues to address. Despite that, Schiffert won't let it drop, he said.

Hartzell, Lindenmuth and Wagner also will receive checks for $150, the same amount of cash the Exchange Club gave the students honored at the top 10 dinner.

"The school district has made a decision to get that [money] to the kids and they want me to send a follow-up letter with that," Schiffert said.

As soon as he has the checks in hand, they will go out, he said.

Done by hand

The shifting of class rank that took place this year did not happen by mistake. That is, all the calculations were done correctly – at the same time and in the same manner as in previous years, Schiffert said.

In fact, although class ranks are calculated by a computer, the ranks of the top students are also independently calculated by hand by several people, Schiffert said. Those calculations are then compared against each other and the computer to make sure all calculations are correct.

No errors surfaced in the calculations used to determine the top 10 students in April. Nor did any errors surface in the calculations used to determine the class ranks listed on final transcripts.

Although a computer does the bulk of the work in calculating the rankings of all but the top students, even those standings are run multiple times and checked by a person.

"In order to say the kid at the top is the right number, you have to be able to say the kid at 400 is the right number," Schiffert said. "I can say with certainty the kids that were recognized, they were the right kids at that time."

As the affected students had been told, much of the shift occurred because of a full-year advanced placement biology class, the first full-year AP class to be offered at Whitehall. An A+ in an AP class is worth 5.33 where an A+ in an honors class is worth 4.83 and an A+ in a regular class is worth 4.33 toward the GPA.

Schiffert said the weighting of the class was explained both to students who took the class and to those who did not, a fact confirmed by the students interviewed.

Still, it's difficult for students or school personnel to imagine what that really means until it happens, he said.

Can't change midstream

Officials did not anticipate any problems with the weighting of the AP biology course. Many other schools in the area offer full-year AP classes without issue.

By April, when it was time to determine the top 10 students, the problem had become noticeable. Officials asked questions and discussed what they should do.

Coming up with a solution was not easy, however. School officials did not want to see students bumped out of the top 10 because of one class but they also believed they could not change the rules so far into the school year.

"We had to go back to what does our documentation say?" said Schiffert. The weighting of the biology class and other classes was fully explained in school handbook. In order to be fair, he said, the school had to stick with what it had put in place before the problem arose.

Class ranks have the potential to fluctuate a bit every year because only hundredths of a point separate the GPAs of the top students.

Not all students reacted the same way.

"A few of them, in reality, weren't concerned with it," Schiffert said. Others were very concerned, however.

It's easy to say it's not a big deal when it doesn't affect you, he said.

The other part of the process that became problematic was timing. Ranks are announced in April in order to honor the top 10 students and to give the valedictorian and salutatorian time to prepare speeches for graduation, if they wish to make them.

The idea, said Schiffert, is "to give kids ample time to prepare and ... that process really backfired on us this year.

"There, unfortunately, was not a lot I could do but make a promise not to let us find ourselves in this situation again."

Changes ahead

The district has yet to officially decide what changes now will be made. However, Schiffert anticipates Whitehall will not eliminate class rank. The special recognition given to the top 10 students may be eliminated, however.

The school also probably will continue to recognize a valedictorian and salutatorian but not announce the names until all the grades are in and GPAs calculated.

"We know that we can't achieve any true ranking ... until everything is done," Schiffert said.

That means the valedictorian and salutatorian may not find out who they are until graduation.

When the board makes its final decision, Schiffert plans to begin spreading the word through letters, assemblies and individual conversations, particularly with top students.

Assuming top 10 honors are discontinued, Schiffert will tell top students that several of them have a good shot at becoming valedictorian or salutatorian and, if they wish to make a speech to commemorate the occasion, they should begin preparing.

Four students speak at graduation. Although the valedictorian and salutatorian usually speak, it is not a requirement. Brand, for example, believed she was salutatorian at graduation but chose not to give a speech.

The other spots are filled by audition and all students are eligible to try for a chance to address their classmates, regardless of rank.

The district must also consider the role of its testing policy in determining class ranks. In addition to the weighting of the AP biology class, it's possible class ranks shifted because any student with an A in a class was not required to take the final exam for that class, Schiffert said. Those who did take finals may not have done as well as expected.

However, the decision on whether to change the policy may be out of the district's hands because this year marks the beginning of the new Keystone exams.

The standardized exams, which replace the PSSA (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment) tests given in recent years, are designed to measure proficiency in a particular course and are given at the end of the year. Beginning with the Class of 2017, students will be required to pass the Keystone exams in order to graduate, making it impossible for the district to allow exemptions from finals.

For the 2012-13 school year, Keystone tests will be administered in first-year algebra, literacy and biology. The state will continue to roll out Keystone exams for other core courses, but school officials don't know exactly when each test will be required, Schiffert said.

"We're too far in the infancy of knowing where we are in the dawn of Keystone testing," Schiffert said. "I can't say there's not a lot of anxiety for how we're going to accomplish this."

Personal concern

When people make mistakes, they must take responsibility for them, Schiffert said. However, reality limits what a person can do.

"It is what it is," said Schiffert. In fact, an engraved wooden plaque with that saying sits on the windowsill of his office at Whitehall High School.

"I care about these kids greatly and the last thing I would want to do is hurt these kids," he said.

The affected students and their parents made a point of saying they realized Schiffert's concern was sincere.

Schiffert said he was voted "most humorous" at Notre Dame High School, from which he graduated.

"I always joked later in life that this was the Catholic school's politically correct way to say 'class clown,'" he said.

He shared this information with students such as Brand to illustrate that a lower-than-expected class rank need not hurt them in the future.

Active in athletics and music, Schiffert was a B student who did not win academic awards. Yet he found success as an adult. He believes the top students will, too, regardless of where they are ranked in the class.

"Although I knew those kids were so distraught, I wanted them to take stock in the fact that in the future people are going to recognize how hard they work."