The National Honor Society has long stood for academic excellence and leadership in America's high schools.

Some would say it has also snubbed many deserving students over the years, excluding from its ranks top-notch, college-bound teenagers who did not meet subjective, unfair criteria.

In Worthington, that system is over, at least for the time being. All three high schools have stopped offering the program, which has been honoring students across the country since 1921.

"We're examining it," said Worthington Kilbourne High School principal Ed Dunaway. "I don't have all the answers at this point."

He is facing pressure from some Kilbourne parents who have mounted a letter-writing campaign aimed at returning the National Honor Society (NHS) to the school.

"The Kilbourne community of parents will be very disappointed if the district does not reinstate the program by the end of the school year," Patty Vandewalle told the Worthington Board of Education on Monday.

She is president of the school's PTO, and said she spoke on behalf of the 30-member executive board and for hundreds of other concerned parents.

Observers say there is no similar effort to reinstate NHS at Thomas Worthington High School.

"I totally understand the reason behind it," said Thomas PTSO president Sandy Keuper.

The organization has not discussed the issue, she said, but she personally believes the system of selection for inclusion is unfair.

At some less competitive schools, students get included into NHS who would not be included in Worthington, she pointed out.

Even within the Worthington system, many top students do not get tapped for membership. Dunaway recalled a recent graduate who was not invited to join NHS, then went on to attend Yale.

To qualify for NHS, a student must not only attain a high grade-point average, but must also display leadership qualities and perform community service.

"How do you measure that?" Dunaway asked.

The problem with the system is very complex, with the subjectivity of the selection process at its core, he said.

"Parents and students are confused by why 'their' student was not selected and another student whom they did not believe was 'as deserving' was inducted," stated a letter from Dunaway to parents. "This created hard feelings within the school community."

At times, those feelings were directed at advisers. As a result, it became increasingly difficult - at both Kilbourne and Thomas - to find faculty members willing to serve as advisers, according to the letter.

The decision to disband the local NHS was made at a meeting of high school administrators in September.

"It was a sad day for Worthington Schools when this decision was announced," Vandewalle said.

One of her goals is to form a committee of parents, teachers, administrators and representatives of the NHS national headquarters to find a way to make the selection process more objective.

A major obstacle would be finding volunteers to be advisers, according to Dunaway. According to the national organizations, NHS must be faculty-led and faculty-driven.

But he is open to the parents' efforts.

"If it was something I felt would make a difference in a child's opportunity, I would do it," he said.