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Carole Mikita ReportingAs high school graduations approach, many schools honor their top students. One young woman who was named her class salutatorian has now learned she is not. It all has to do with how grade point averages and number of classes taken add up.
You know the valedictorian is the student with the highest score in a graduating class, the salutatorian comes next, runner-up. Amber Cooper recently lost that position because of a miscalculation. She feels an outside faith-based class, LDS seminary, put her at a disadvantage.
Amber Cooper: "I went home crying. I was crying all day. It was very bad."
Last Friday, Amber Cooper was one of Taylorsville High School's salutatorians, or top academic students. Monday, she was dropped because of what the school called a miscalculation. The number of classes she had taken over four years, 25, was less than other students, 29. Amber used 'release time' from school to attend religious study for Latter-day Saints called seminary.
Amber Cooper: "Our religious freedom to take seminary and to learn about our beliefs is given to us, not only LDS but protestant, and I believe that shouldn't be made a disadvantage to us when we are given opportunities to be salutatorian and valedictorian."
Amber says the administration told her she was still eligible for top honors with release time. But according to school policy, that's not the case. Because of the error, the school bumped two salutatorians, one to seventh place and the valedictorian fell to salutatorian.
Principal Jerry Haslam admits someone made a mistake, but to be fair, he had to use a common denominator.
Jerry Haslam, Principal, Taylorsville High School: "What's happened here is my responsibility and I'm so so sorry about it. But I also wanted to be ethical about it."
Layton High School has never had a valedictorian. Assistant Principal Myrna Mayes says her school has just stayed away from potential problems.
Myrna Mayes, Assist. Principal, Layton High School: "This was the philosophy right from the beginning, that all students are important, not just one. And besides, there are just way too many controversial issues when you start to determine who is number one."
Other schools that do not participate in the Valedictorian/Salutatorian honors include Bountiful, Skyline and Murray High Schools. All administrators there say they feel it is too difficult to select 'just one'. Many other schools use only GPA and ACT/SAT scores, not the number of classes taken.
