With this new school year comes a multitude of new and updated rules and procedures. These updates include a new school grading scale, classwork weight system, and dress code for students.  

Last year the county ran on a 6-point grading scale, meaning that a 94-100 would’ve been graded as an A. The county has now switched to a new 10-point grading scale that will allow more flexibility for students regarding their grades. 

 “It’s something I’ve wanted for a long time. It gives people a little more freedom not to be as stressed about getting that A,” Mrs. Mills said about the new scale.

She goes on to explain how she has had to change up some grading rules that she has set for her own classroom. Mainly, she is beginning to reconsider the point deduction for late work. Mills explained that it’s hard for her to give someone who turned in late work the same grade as someone who turned in their work on time as she sees it as unfair. 

A lot of teachers have different ways that they would like to weigh grades. However, the county has adopted a uniform grading system this year. Meaning all tests in every class carry the same weight, instead of classwork having less of an impact. The tests now count as 60% of a student’s grade, while classwork counts as 40%. 

Perhaps a more popular change among students is the updated dress code. After many understandable complaints from parents and students, the decision was made to update the Pittsylvania County dress code. The updated dress code allows for more freedom with what students can wear, and it has received an overwhelming amount of praise. For example, students may now wear leggings as long as the shirt they are wearing abides by the fingertip rule. While the changes have pleased many, others still express that the dress code is absurd and out of line with the fashion of today. “It’s better, but I still think it’s ridiculous,” sophomore Carleigh Setliff said. 

On a more serious note, there have been significant changes in the way certain safety drills are done. Instead of the color coded drills, there are new names and phrases for the drills. Over the summer, PCS and the Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Department staged a fake, but very realistic, school shooting. “Even though we knew it was a drill, they fired in the school, you heard the shells hit the floor, you heard whoever the ‘shooter’ was yelling things,” Mills said as she explained the realism of the very much fake situation. Since last year, PCS has done a lot of research that has gone into the making of these decisions about the safety drills. 

Any change made to provide a safer and more comfortable environment for students and staff in PCS is a good one.