When Public High Schools Raise the Bar for Athletes to Have Good Grades, Some Teams May Be Dismantled...
The trend to set standards for athletes to maintain good grades to play sports is on the move in some areas..such as in a small town in CT which is regional school, serving six towns. I will wait to name the school..but this FB post was in response to the news that many players will be ineligible to continue playing their sports since new standards were put in place. There does not seem to have been enough input from teachers and parents (and coaches) to help people prepare for the outcome of such a policy taking effect under a new administration.
A passing grade of 70 rather than a "D" (was that 65?) is part of the issue. In addition a student may not be failing more than two classes. I have often thought it would be good to offer students a weekend program as well as study groups early on in the year to be clear they are learning the basics and keeping up in general. That would mainly be volunteer or with student buddy systems etc or more online coaching.
The bigger problems of getting students on board for learning, balancing the many needs to attend high school early and stay late for programs as well as keep up with extras and homewok is one that baffles many students and their families. In rural areas the logistics can mean driving a half hour up and down hilly roads, sometimes in difficult weather and late at night. Not fun, but half of Americans likely do just that. At least not everyone is needing to dodge tornadoes outdoors, but sometimes the storm systems come from within a school setting in the way of politics...
If anyone saw Michael Berkeley's Humpty Dumpty musical (from about 20 years ago) there was a lively number with the Board of Ed and a few others arguing about what needed to be done to reform some 'bad eggs'...Now it's about 'bad grades' and the ongoing struggles to do enough in a timely manner to 'save our ship' of the regional high school.
Likely we need many more students to keep the numbers secure for teams to confidently move forward. It would be helpful to know if the academic requirements are in the ball park of what other public schools have in place currently (or are moving toward.) Having more 'team players' involved with each grade level from early on with extra help for academics would be ideal.
I have shared many ideas over the years about having students be about a year older than our system requires or typically expects. As students mature through age 7 they can more thoroughly comprehend the material they are expected to master. Balancing sports, music, life, driving or other clubs and work in high school is taxing for anyone.
Being more mature makes sense, especially when needing to travel longer distances in rural areas. It's too bad more people didn't 'see this coming' and do some kind of academic support for athletes and others who likely are in need.
That has been a longstanding challenge at Housy and many high schools (as well as grade schools from the earliest grades on.) A key time to intervene is with expectant parents and the young children well before Pre-K.
Every school could have a 'booster club' for young families and offer more interactions so everyone is given a nice exposure to early learning experiences and becoming part of the community. More could be given to day cares for support as well..and after school programming. Will that mean every student will achieve at grade level or better?
Not necessarily but the odds would be improved and hopefully there'd be dedicated tutors and such for every student so they would improve and get the basics down..and have ways to balance their studies with other endeavors. Hope that's not way over the top but this issue is central to many aspects of the NW Corner and one more schools will be facing so may as well face that challenge together.
Thanks to all everyone is doing and braving with many important topics to help the area, state and country survive and thrive. The talk I heard recently by Hakeem Jeffries in Brooklyn NY spoke to urgent issues we all need to join together to address.
Difficulties like the sports program at Housy can whet people's appetite for seeing a more just, capable society function at large to cover the basics and create pathways for positive growth. All the best to one and all. See other important ideas and timely issues on www.livfully.org. Let's plan to stick together through challenging times.
Post new comment