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WAKE COUNTY, NC - Principals in Wake County, North Carolina may no longer be allowed to name valedictorians and salutatorians, prestigious titles that go to the two high school seniors with the highest and second-highest grade point averages.

The school board unanimously agreed that such competition was "unhealthy" for students.

Starting in 2019, the two scholarly titles will be replaced with three larger Latin-named groups, similar to college distinctions, for all seniors who graduate with a weighted GPA of at least 3.75.

Here's the breakdown:

Cum laude - students who graduate with a GPA of 3.75 to 4.0

Magna cum laude - 4.0 GPA to 4.249

Summa cum laude - 4.25 GPA or higher

The News & Observer quotes Wake County School Board Chairman Tom Benton, "We have heard from many, many schools that the competition has become very unhealthy," Benton said. "Students were not collaborating with each other the way that we would like them to. Their choice of courses was being guided by their GPA and not their future education plans."

Rather than allowing just two seniors recognition during graduation as valedictorian or salutatorian, the new policy could allow up to 600 seniors each year the chance to be recognized.

Benton says, while he loves competition, the current system is based on one one-thousandth of a decimal point.

"We think it’s much healthier to set high expectations and high requirements for magna cum laude," Benton told The News & Observer. "There are competitions that are much harder to have objective measurements and grading falls into that. You’ve got the subjectivity of grades being determinate." Despite the larger groups, individual class rank will still be printed on student transcripts. The policy's final approval could come during a vote June 7th.