Notification of NHS Candidates

Question:
A parent recently challenged his son’s NHS notification procedures. The father felt that there was not enough notification, or direct notification, to the students that were eligible for NHS. A sign was posted in all classrooms and an announcement made in school that the list of eligible students was posted. It was then the students’ responsibility to pick up information forms and details regarding a first meeting. The father felt that a more individual approach, such as a letter to the parents and/or student should have been done instead. Where does the National office stand in this situation?

Answer:
The first step is to appeal to the school principal. The National guidelines, Article IX, Section 4, call for publicizing the selection process, but doesn’t stipulate the methods -- just that it be done widely and in a timely fashion. Certainly if it can be shown that there was a fair possibility that a student did not get the information, one could argue for an extension of a given deadline. The National office recommends that each eligible candidate be notified. Many schools send out individual letters to students’ parents, others use homeroom teachers or English teachers to disseminate "invitations", while others call a meeting of all of the identified candidates and take roll to assure that all eligible candidates are present -- and if not, the adviser seeks them out to determine if there was a valid reason for their not attending. In essence, it is recommend that every adviser guarantee for himself/herself that 100% of the eligible candidates have been informed of this potential honor and then provide them with the relevant information to pursue their candidacy.

If the school can argue that all candidates would have the same opportunity to get this information using the existing methods of communication, the case may have to go to the superintendent. This is fundamentally a local call. If the parent wishes to file a complaint, we would request they first confer with the adviser and principal and then write to the National office outlining which of the constitutional provisions they believe the chapter is not following or adhering to.

If the school is of a religious type, there should be a type of diocesan office or religious hierarchy to which the school reports -- there is usually someone in charge of the education programs outside of the school itself – there have also been cases appealed in the Catholic hierarchy as far up as a Bishop over the years.