activities so they definitely deserve to walk the stage. >> reporter: interim school superintendent larry bowersas been in their position since february 2015 to give the school board time to find a full-time school superintendent. they had in dr. jack smith and ann bowers will retire july 1st. that's the latest live in bethesda. jim, back to you. >>> prince georges county is launching a new effort to get people out of jail and back into school. it's called back on track. that program gives low-level offenders the opportunity to admit guilt for a crime. they will then work with the team from catholic charities and prince georges community college to learn a new career. the state's attorney angela brooks says it will save the county $7,000 in jail housing costs. >>> the parents of two virginia brothers killed on their way to school have awarded the first scholarship in their sons' names. ian and jaylen brown died in a car accident last november. they were on their way to spotsylvania high school when it happened. the teens' parents decided to use money left over from a go fund me account to start

you see, superintendent larry bowers has overruled his own school. he has decided that six students will get to graduate and participate in ceremonies tomorrow. wusa 9's bruce leshaj is -- leshanna is -- bruce leshan is at the high school. >> reporter: that's right, adam. supporters are saying that the principal's get tough policy was, in fact, working. that there were i let fewer students drinking at prom. and none of them had to be rushed to the hospital as had been in the case in the past. she explicitly told the students and f they were caught drinking at prom, they would still be able to graduate, but they would not be able to walk across the stage to pick up their diplomas. >> the superintendent waited until the long weekend to announce he was overruling his own principle. perhaps waiting to quell a controversy that anyway. >> disappointed, angry, exhausted. powerless. >> the president. bcc student association, speaking as a parent of two, slammed superintendent larry bowers, who decided to allow some students who consumed alcohol during prom a

six students from the bcc graduation ceremony was overturned by interim school superintendent larry bowers who wrote to parents saying the board of education policy is clear that as a matter of general practice, the exclusion from commencement ceremonies will not be included in local school policies regarding disciplinary standards and procedures. >> our community is outraged because we don't know how to proceed next year, worrying, what are we going to say as a deterrent for this be the decision to allow the six students to receive their diplomas at graduation. >> you did all of the work up to senior year. one mess up shouldn't affect all of that. >> i think it's really important for people, especially young people to understand consequences. >> i understand that principal jones' intentions were to keep people safe, but at the same time i kind of felt like singling out these six kids was a little harsh considering there were a lot of people who weren't caught. >> reporter: ahead at 6:00, whether this con ro versy is going to affect tomorrow's graduation. that's the latest, erica, back to

there are two sidesreo to this but the announcementouem came down tuesday from superintendent larry bowersbow let's take a look at the look e table. ta it's pretty a essie to followtol and gives you different combinations of grades butra basically if you get let's sayig an a in english the firsthe f quarter an b in the second quarter, you grade will end up averaging two an a so it's the upward trend for students andtue so you can kind of see the see e different combination there is on the table there.he but this is different from the previous grading system whererai teachers generally relied on a student's two quarter gradess tw an final grade but as you g mentioned off the top there theyraf eliminated final examsa that no longer is there forlo them to compare it to.ng o many people again saying thatt the new system is going to to help students get better gpa's a but you have the naysayers nsa saying wait a minute, this wai isn't giving our students the o reality once they get to college level and really preparing them for what's tog er come. back to you in the studio.u in u >> all right,

if you look at this grading grag table from superintendent larry bowers you get an a the first gt quarterou would end up with b for that semester and you can see that st how the point system would workd based off of this table here. so it actually puts the students in upward trend and a better bet overall gpa always good thing gd and beneficial for college c admissions, of course, but thoso against this change are are concerned about gra and the fact that studentsde aren't going to be getting the real experience especially asiaa they prepare for college, and,l, you know, just being out here oh we've had some parents stop by,p some students stop by, and thatt seems to be mixed emotions. emon you have overall a lot more chatter about final exams being eliminated.elimin a lot of students and parents sa think that final exams should so have been something that stayeds in place because it sort ofr motivates the student and alsona to prove that you know the material at the end of thefhe semester.me as far as the new grading systee goes, they feel as though, youou know, emotions are split on thi