Malverne HS to have one valedictorian

The Malverne Board of Education Thursday night reversed an earlier decision to have two valedictorians and agreed to name just one top student.

Aalique Grahame will be the valedictorian and Sarah St. John the school's salutatorian for Malverne High School. The third-ranking student, Xavier Bernard, who had been named salutatorian, will be offered a speaking part at graduation.

The change came after the board met in emergency executive session Thursday.

"Subsequent reaction from the students and families involved in this matter, along with community sentiment relayed to the Board of Education, has compelled the board to change this decision and identify Aalique Grahame as the sole valedictorian for the Class of 2011," read a statement from Superintendent James Hunderfund. "We apologize profusely to the students and parents for this error, and congratulate them on their outstanding academic success."

Grahame, who had said Wednesday that he should be the only valedictorian, said Thursday, "I'm happy because I feel like the right thing was done."

Dorolyn Montgomery, Grahame's aunt and guardian, said, "I'm glad that they decided to do the right thing. . . . It was not a tie. He was clearly ahead of her."

St. John, 18, who has a 95.16 grade-point average, said earlier she didn't "want anything I don't technically deserve." She was unavailable for comment Thursday night.

Grahame has a 95.42 GPA.

Bernard said he was content with the board's decision. "I really feel like everybody got what they wanted -- including me. We wanted justice," said Bernard, 18. "We just wanted everybody to get what they deserve."

Asked the topic of his speech, Bernard said: "My mother wants me to make it touching -- so I'll see what I can do."

Earlier this week, the district apologized for miscalculating the GPAs of the top-ranked students and Hunderfund announced that Grahame and St. John would both be valedictorians. Graduation is June 24.

Both students and their families were called in to a meeting Tuesday night, where the district revealed the results of its investigation, which showed Grahame's average was the highest. However, since it had already announced St. John as valedictorian, the district decided that the two should share the title.

The district had said Wednesday that its decision to have co-valedictorians was final.

With Matthew Chayes

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Grahame's GPA.