VIDALIA — With classes starting back Monday, students in Concordia Parish will have a little more leeway when it comes to passing tests.

The Concordia Parish School Board met Thursday night to pass the parish’s Pupil Progression Plan for the new school year, with a new grading scale part of the package.

Academic Director Paul Nelson said the board has to update the plan every year, and that most of the changes involved are required by the state.

Nelson said the new grading scale is similar to the old one in the parish, with the major difference being for grades C and lower.

The previous scale had the grade for a C set as any score from 84-77. The new scale has it from 84-75. The grade of D was 77 to a 69, and now it is 74-67. An F was any score 68 or lower, and now it is any score 66 or lower.

Nelson said the change was mandated by the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Another change for students involves end of the year testing, Nelson said.

Nelson said high school students previously had to pass the Graduation Exit Examination to get their diplomas, but in the past few years the state has been working to get rid of GEE tests and move to end-of-course tests.

“The EOC tests are very core specific,” he said.

While freshmen and sophomores had to previously pass an English and math EOC test, Nelson said students starting high school Monday now have to pass an additional EOC test — either biology or American history.

Nelson said some other changes included allowing high school students to graduate in three years and implementing new programs at the junior high level to help students falling behind.

In other news:

4 The board opened bids for five different items, and voted to take the best bid for each under advisement before making a final decision.

Two bids were collected for a new special education bus, with the lowest being $44,014.

Only one bid was received for pest control service, that includes spraying each of the 10 school cafeterias and one warehouse.

Two bids were received for propane service for Monterey High School, with Herring Gas placing the low bid of $2.09 a gallon.

For the parish’s 850 boxes of duplicating paper, four bids were received with the lowest bid coming in at $24,225 total, or $28.50 a case.

The parish also received bids for four old vehicles they were trying to get rid of, but failed to receive any bids for a portable classroom unit.