LEBANON - Lebanon school board members voted 4-1 Thursday to end a requirement that current juniors and seniors pass eighth-grade state assessment tests before receiving diplomas.

Board members also voted unanimously to transfer a fifth counselor to Lebanon High School to help students make the transition to tougher graduation requirements coming from the state in 2012. The move leaves one counselor districtwide for all students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

Board member Liz Alperin voted no on the second reading of the graduation requirement policy. She also voted no last month when the policy had its first reading.

"I wanted some indication that our seniors were leaving the high school with at least an eighth-grade proficiency in reading and math to survive in the world," she said.

But other board members agreed with the district's recommendation to drop the policy requiring a passing score on eighth-grade tests in reading, writing and math.

Time is running out for the upperclassmen, and resources need to be concentrated on the younger students, Hess said. Beginning in 2012, all public school graduates statewide must pass state tests at the 10th-grade level or provide other proof they can meet those standards before receiving a diploma.

Board members agreed to transfer Seven Oak Middle School counselor Karen Sickles to the high school to help with the change. The transfer gives the high school one counselor for each grade level and allows a fifth to concentrate on the college credit program Beyond LHS.

Lebanon was the only mid-valley district to have set a test score as a condition for a diploma. Although the district has no firm numbers, both board members and district officials have said they know families who left the Lebanon district because the standard was too high.

Some students at Lebanon High School have no record of having taken the eighth-grade tests, while others transferred in after the tests were given. Hess told board members in October that 40 of the 260 seniors had not met at least one test score standard and another 57 had no score recorded.