Sandwich School Committee Votes 4-3 to Apply Retroactive GPA Weighting to Classes of 2026-2028

SANDWICH — August 13, 2025 — Sandwich School Committee votes 4-3 to retroactively apply a new high school GPA weighting system to current students in the classes of 2026, 2027, and 2028. The split vote came despite Superintendent Brian Miller's explicit recommendation against retroactivity, backed by modeling showing 89 percent of the approximately 140 ranked seniors would see their class standing change — including one student falling more than 20 places — as college application season approaches. Supporters argued the old scale, which made a B-plus in a college-prep course worth more than a B in an AP course, had never been publicly published and was inherently inequitable. The committee also heard that the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights has opened a formal investigation into the district's digital accessibility practices following a complaint by resident Meg Keegan, who said the issue had gone unaddressed for more than two years and now represents "an unnecessary and avoidable financial burden on taxpayers."