“The working group is going to have to make the decision about how to identify those grades in a way that the public can understand. Maybe it’s a letter grade, maybe it’s a good/fair/poor, but the pass/fail isn’t working,” Says Putnam.
While Putnam refers to a system of good/fair/poor as a possible remedy for the confusion that he believes the pass/fail system creates he does not explain why he might return to the system that was in place before he was elected to office.
Under Putnam, the Department of Agriculture transitioned to the pass/fail scoring from a grading system that scored establishments as “good” “fair” or “poor”, because that system was viewed as too subjective.
Before Putnam ordered the removal of the pass/fail system, the Department of Agriculture featured language on their website to assist consumers in understanding the ratings. Prior to the change, the site stated: “Pass ratings indicate the establishment is in compliance with sanitation requirements.” And “Fail ratings indicate the establishment is not in compliance.”
