BEDFORD -- A plethora of advanced course offerings has Bedford County School Board members scratching their heads, trying to decide a fair way to rank students or whether to discontinue the practice completely.

Parents reportedly have expressed concerns of inequity because of weighted course offerings through the Advanced Placement, Virginia Governor's School and Early College programs, but the board reached consensus Thursday evening to keep intact the current policy of recognizing the top 10 seniors for the class of 2009.

However, school board members are leaning toward eliminating the top ranking designations -- including valedictorian and salutatorian -- beginning with the class of 2010. The school board will consider a formal proposal at its December meeting.

A committee led by Assistant Superintendent Bobbi Johnson has proposed students be recognized for high honors and honors instead. The board hinted it would like to recognize those designees beginning with the class of 2009, in addition to recognizing the top 10 students.

What has not been determined is the grade point average that would be used for each designation. At Thursday's school board meeting, Johnson suggested 3.5 to 3.99 for honors students and 4.0 and above for high honors students.

But school board member Mickey VanDerwerker said she felt 3.5 was too low. The board then charged Johnson with the task of taking a closer look and reporting findings at its December meeting.

"This is a pretty big, important item because it affects kids and parents who start, sometimes in third grade, for a big goal -- to be number one or number two," said Superintendent James Blevins.

Courses in the advanced programs are weighted on a 5.0 scale. Johnson also will explore what courses are weighted and present that information to the board in December.

About 18 months ago, the school board adopted the rule of 24, effective with the class of 2009. Under the rule, top 10 rankings are determined using the same number of courses -- the 24 that meet the advanced studies diploma criteria -- to prevent students who take extra courses from being penalized. Electives that are not weighted, such as band, can actually lower a student's grade point average.

One idea that has been proposed for computing the GPA is discarding the rule of 24 and using all of a student's courses to determine the average.

It is unclear how much difference in rankings using all courses will make. In a comparison of GPAs determined using the rule of 24 versus using all courses, the difference among top students shifts from tenths of a point in some cases to hundredths of a point.

School board member Julie Bennington said she is in favor of eliminating rankings because many other schools nationwide are doing the same. Salem has eliminated rankings and does not recognize a valedictorian or salutatorian. In Roanoke County, all seniors with a grade point average of 4.0 or higher are considered valedictorians; at Hidden Valley High School there were more than 50 valedictorians last year.

There are as many methods to rank as there are school divisions, Johnson said.

"In my mind we are splitting hairs. These are all extremely productive students," she said.