Pelham High School freshman Stephanie Picanso failed her Algebra I class this year.

Had there been a D grade in the school district’s grading system this year, her 68 average would have been a D instead, and she might not have to take the class over again in her sophomore year.

Her mother, Christine Bobola, explained she enrolled Picanso, 15, in public school for the first time this year after putting her through Catholic school for her early school career.

Picanso had a lot to get used to, just getting into high school and transitioning from a private school format as well, Bobola said.

She thought a level one Algebra I class would have been right for Picanso, who had been in level one classes prior to entering Pelham Elementary.

“We had to learn the hard way, but an F is a really hard way to learn that she should have been in a level two,” Bobola said, adding Picanso worked hard to keep up with the level one standards for the class. “It wasn’t like she got a lazy man’s F,” Bobola said.

After testing out a grading system that eliminated the D grade, the Pelham School Board recently decided to bring back it back.

Superintendent Frank Bass said the School Board wanted to reinstate the D as a way for parents and teachers to be more aware, when progress reports come out, of a student’s standing in their classes.

“We look at the D as a warning signal, as a yellow light, if you will,” Bass said. “The board wanted to take it a step further and say we’d still like to create this safe harbor for those students who, despite the best efforts of the school and parents, reside in the D range.”

Without the grade, students who got a 69 average or below in a class failed.

With the grade added back into the grading system, students could pass with a 65 average. Anything 70 or above would be a C, said Bass.

The real test, Bass said, will be after the first progress reports come out in the 2008-09 school year. Bass said he wants to take stock of how many students are in the D range on their progress reports, and out of those how many students get their averages up into at least the C range.

If parents and school administrators see a D and treat it as a warning, they may be able to coax the student into getting their average up in the class, said Bass.

“We want the parent to know, we want the kid to know and, of course, we want to know,” said Bass. “I think it will be interesting from my own perspective to see where kids end up after the first semester.”

Bobola said adding the D back into the grading system is the right thing to do, but wishes that letter had been around when her daughter entered a public high school for the first time, an adjustment for the freshman on several levels.

“I mean, obviously she didn’t get a good grasp of the knowledge, but I’m not sure as far as her having to repeat it, how that has damaged her for the rest of her high school years,” Bobola said.