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NewslettersTougher standards for extracurriculars to take effect next semester
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BLUFFTON -- The Beaufort County School District will implement stricter academic standards for student-athletes and participants in other extracurricular activities Jan. 15, the first day of the second semester, the district's supervisor of athletics said Friday.
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The decision to put the policy into effect comes three days after the school board voted 7-1 to support a draft of the plan prepared by a committee of athletics directors and principals from the district's four high schools and Bill Evans, coordinator of school relations, guidance and athletics.
The standards will apply to all winter sports, which begin in late November and early December.
The plan has been tweaked slightly since receiving board approval. A misprint was corrected to stipulate students participating in extracurricular activities cannot receive opportunities to improve their grades that are not available to other students. Also, coaches, advisors and teachers now are allowed to attend hearings at which the student, his or her parents and the principal determine the student's eligibility.
All students involved in extracurricular activities are to turn in bi-weekly grade reports from their teachers. If, at the beginning of the fourth week, a student has a 76 average or lower in any class, he or she will be required to attend tutoring provided by the school. Students who do not attend tutoring will be "ineligible in events representing the school;" those who attend retain eligibility.
After four weeks of tutoring, if the student still has an average of 76 or lower in one or more classes, a meeting with school administrators, the student and his parents, the teacher involved and the coach or activity sponsor will be held to determine one of several possible actions:
n Allow the student to maintain eligibility if he or she maintains a grade of 70 or higher in all classes.
n Continue tutoring and allow the student to remain eligible if the grade is below 76 but still above the passing mark of 70 or higher.
n Continue tutoring if the grade is below 70 but the class in question is not required for graduation or to ensure completion of at least six credits that school year.
If the grade remains below 70 and the class is required for graduation or to ensure completion of at least six credits, the principal can revoke the student's eligibility or allow tutoring to continue.
Students diagnosed as handicapped and who are being served in a non-diploma program are exempt from the policy, as long as they are meeting the requirements of their Individual Education Plan.
"We have to adjust for a student that is making a good effort but still has a grade that is too low," Evans said. "They'll need to discuss whether or not the student is making that effort during the course of the four weeks."
Though the policy gives discretion to principals to determine the eligibility of students whose grades don't improve adequately -- and possibly leaves them open to lobbying from coaches or parents -- Evans foresees no problems.
"It's very similar to the discretion they make in discipline issues," Evans said. "So really, we already give our principals the power of discretion. I don't see any of them ignoring the intentions of this policy."
The district's four high schools will continue to follow the South Carolina High School League guidelines until Jan. 15, which require a student to pass at least five credits the previous year to be eligible for a first-semester sport.
Hilton Head Island High School principal Amanda O'Nan tried to implement a similar policy, but the district told her she didn't have the authority to enforce it because it wasn't consistent with the standards set by the other three high schools.
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