I agree, EandCMom. It sounds like it's the title that's bothering her. Or maybe not getting to speak at graduation. I was 1st in my graduating class and was on the fast track to become valedictorian...until a guy moved to the district during sophomore year. He got an A in Adv. Math and I got a B, so he was 1st in the class and I was second. I was devistated...until I found out that salutatorian got to speak at graduation, too. Then it was fine with me.
Not to swim upstream here, but I have to admit that I see the school's point: if that's the way the policy is written, and it was written that way all along, then it's really too bad for the girl. Do I think it's a good policy? NO! And hopefully it will be re-written after this. But if that's what it says, then that's the way it is.
On the bright side, I really can't imagine it will matter to the girl. If she includes a copy of this article or adds this quote to her resume:
Grapevine High School senior Anjali Datta holds the highest grade-point average of the 471 students graduating from Grapevine High School this year. In fact, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD officials believe her GPA of 5.898 may be the highest in the high school's history.
then not being valedictorian won't matter one whit for her.