The Haverhill schools need a new promotion policy. The one it has now is clearly not working.

The School Committee gets credit for recognizing that much this past week, after a case of "social promotion" at the Nettle Middle School.

But the schools should have had a clear, firm and fair policy on promotion long ago, before a specific situation erupted in controversy.

The recent case involved Damasae Pendleton, an eighth-grade student who was assigned to the ninth grade even though he failed most of his courses. He was told he would be entering the ninth grade, but would not be allowed to participate in graduation from Nettle. When his mother, Demita, complained, School Committee members intervened and ordered that Damasae be allowed to participate.

Committee member Scott Wood contended that moving Damasae to ninth grade but not allowing him to walk across the stage with other graduates was "despicable" and failed to treat the parents with "decency and respect."

That is debatable. Certainly the school's stance was not consistent. A student who fails should not be promoted to the next grade. Indeed, it is not a walk across the stage that should be at issue here. Promoting a student who cannot perform at grade level is the problem. That is what shows a lack of decency and respect.

And Wood is obviously wrong to contend, as he did, that the schools have no "unwritten" promotion policy. According to Wood, "if a policy is unwritten, it doesn't exist. There is no such thing as an 'unwritten' policy."

Technically, perhaps not. But obviously, as a practical matter, such a policy does exist. This situation makes that much clear.

It is possible that there are times when social promotion is in the best interests of a student. Superintendent Raleigh Buchanan suggested as much in this case, when he noted that Damasae's size — at age 14 he is 6-feet-5 and weighs about 250 pounds — would make it better for him to move to high school.

It may be, as Damasae's great-grandmother insisted, that it is the schools who failed him, instead of the other way around. "Not all students learn the same way," said Kalister Green-Byrd, a retired education specialist.

But that debate occurs every time a student is not doing well. The School Department still needs a policy that, while containing flexibility for administrative discretion, spells out standards that will be applied consistently.

Committee members may decide that social promotion should be an option. But it should no longer be unwritten. And they should remember that in the vast majority of cases it does students no favors, because it simply sets them up for another failure at the next level.