Wayland School Committee pushes back on plan to exit National Honor Society

WAYLAND -- December 17, 2025, Wayland High principal slows plan to leave National Honor Society after committee pushback. Principal Allison Mernick apologized for the rollout of a letter announcing Wayland High School would replace its NHS chapter with a locally designed honor society, telling the School Committee on Wednesday she would pause and engage families and students. Members questioned why the change was landing on the current junior class, with one calling it a "seismic shift" and noting an informal survey of Massachusetts districts found virtually no peers that had withdrawn from NHS. Mernick said about 15 juniors have volunteered to help design a replacement and that Counseling Department Head Ben Buffett sees no admissions impact. The committee separately voted unanimously to approve the high school's competency determination criteria for the Class of 2027, covering benchmark assessments in biology, algebra, geometry, English 10 and U.S. History 1.