Part-Time Students and NHS Eligibility

National Honor Societies always seem to struggle with eligibility. Whether it's the students that are just below the minimum GPA or students that fall short on the other three pillars. A more rarely thought of case is that of "part-time students". Whether the student is part time at the local high school and part time at the career center, or at the high school and local community college, or whichever unique combination you find, there is an answer, although in some situations, that answer is about as clear as mud!

The case we were working with involved a student who spent most of his time at a school in the district that was NOT his actual "home high school". In this district, most students with special needs were all bussed to one of the high schools (we'll call this Other School), regardless of their home school. The adviser at Other School called to say that this particular student met the minimum GPA eligibility requirement for that school and would he be included in the school's NHS candidate roster even though he wasn't officially a student there?

The answer looks something like this...

If Other School is where the student would normally be at, his home or base school, then yes, he would be eligible for candidacy.

If Other School is where he is assigned per an IEP or by the district for some reason, then that is permissable as well, even if it is not his "home school" and he is really a student of his home school.

The most concrete recommendation is to make sure that all the district honor society chapters outline what they would like to do and how they will handle students that are taking classes at multiple buildings/schools. Use your local bylaws to provide procedures for this type of thing, since a student cannot be in more than one NHS Chapter.