Selection Guidelines

Selection Guidelines

The selection procedure for Zora Ellis Jr. High School National Junior Honor Society is determined by the Faculty Council and available for review by students, faculty, and parents.

Candidates must have attended the school (system) the equivalent of one semester.

Membership may be open to qualified students in grades seven and eight.

A cumulative GPA is to be used for determining scholastic eligibility. The GPA requirement is a 4.0 in core classes (math, science, social studies, language and/or reading).

GPA requirements must be the same for all candidates in all classes.

No quotas or percentages of members per class can be established.

Rules such as “no grades below a B” or no failing grades” are not acceptable.

Students who are eligible scholastically will be notified and informed that for further consideration for selection to the chapter they may complete the Student Activity Information Form, outlining their accomplishments in the areas of Service and Leadership. The Faculty Council will review the returned, completed information forms, along with any other verifiable information about each candidate. Some Faculty Councils may choose to interview candidates personally. The leadership, service, citizenship, and character of all candidates will be reviewed carefully. Candidates receiving a majority vote of the Faculty Council shall be inducted into the chapter.

Faculty evaluations may be used to supplement the Student Activity Information Forms. It may be used to support the strength of a student’s candidacy in the areas of service, leadership, citizenship, and character. Such evaluations may be used only by the Faculty Council, the adviser, and the principal and are considered confidential.

A candidate’s leadership, service, citizenship, and character shall be considered for selection. Leadership is based on the student’s participation in two or more community or school activities, or election to an office. To meet the service requirement, the student must have been active in two or more service projects in the school or community beginning January of the preceding year. Citizenship is measured by the student’s participation in civic-related organizations and/or activities. Character is measured in terms of integrity, behavior, ethics, and cooperation with both students and faculty.

The National Council approved the following recommendations for use when considering “character” of candidates.

A candidate will be able to demonstrate an outstanding record of conduct and behavior with regard to school and community rules, guidelines, and policies or be able to demonstrate sufficient growth and improvement to compensate for previous inadequacies. The Faculty Council may review the following documentation for selection or dismissal consideration.
1. Administrative records of the school
2. Conduct/behavior records
3. Report cards
4. Professional records of individual faculty members.
5. Comments, based on professional evaluation and action, of individual faculty members on candidate evaluation forms.
6. Student Activity Information Form

Students who have been arrested and found guilty of civil offenses or who have a record of breaking school rules should not be automatically excluded from consideration for membership. However, a student of character takes criticism willingly and accepts recommendations graciously; consistently exemplifies desirable qualities of behavior; upholds principles of morality and ethics; cooperates by comply with school regulations concerning property, programs, office, halls, etc.; demonstrates the high standards of honesty and reliability; regularly shows courtesy, concern, and respect for others; observes instructions and rules, is punctual, and faithful both inside and outside the classroom; has powers of concentration, self-discipline, and sustained attention as shown by perseverance and application to studies; manifests truthfulness in acknowledging obedience to rules, avoiding cheating in written work, and showing unwillingness to profit by the mistakes of others; and actively helps ride the school of bad influences or environment.

Pregnancy, whether within or without wedlock, cannot be the basis for automatic rejection under recent judicial interpretations of federal low. This is not to say, however, that pregnancy cannot be considered as one determinant of character, as character is defined by the Faculty Council. But pregnancy can be so considered only if evidence of paternity is similarly regarded as indicative of character.

Certainly, students with disabilities may not be summarily excluded from consideration, but neither must their disability give them an unfair advantage.

Not selecting a student who has already been identified as being academically eligible, special efforts shall be made to explain the selection process to those students who are unhappy about the results of the selection process. The chapter adviser will provide immediate feedback concerning the non-selection. Should students and parents still not be satisfied, the next level of discussion should take place with the principal. Following such discussions, if the principal believes that some kind of technical or procedural mistake has been made, the principal may ask the Faculty council to reconvene to review the situation. Technical or procedural errors might include the inadvertent omission of a student’s name from the list of those qualified for induction, the erroneous averaging of grades, or failure to follow prescribed procedures.

In the absence of specific evidence to the contrary, however, the principal must assume that the members of the council are exercising their discretion in a legitimate manner and with the good faith expected of them.

Parents and students must understand that no student has the right to be selected for membership in a chapter of the National Junior Honor Society. If a non-selected student or his/her parents wish to challenge the principal’s decision they should follow the local school system complaint procedure.

The National Council and the NASSP have no authority to review or overturn the judgment of the Faculty Council regarding selection of individual members to local chapters.

NJHS Induction Just Ahead

Student Activity Information Forms were sent home with students on Wednesday, January 13, 2009. The COMPLETED form is due by Friday, January 16, 2009 9:10 a.m. There is an information brochure available at the sign-in/sign-out table inside the front door of the school building.