West Greene considers academic eligibility requirements
ROGERSVILLE – A proposal to increase academic eligibility requirements for students to participate in field trips and extracurricular activities was discussed at length Thursday by West Greene School Board, but was put aside for further study.
About 18 people attended the meeting and many participated in the discussion, asking the board to table the motion included on the agenda until the matter is investigated more thoroughly and programs are in place to help students who fail to meet the requirements.
The motion, presented by the educational planning committee, would require a student to maintain a 70 percent, or C average in all subjects. The board also discussed requiring students to maintain a 70 percent average for all courses combined.
Neither proposal came up for a vote. A motion to require students to maintain a 66 percent, or D+ average for all courses combined, failed.
The district now, only for athletics, follows the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association standard that requires students pass at least four full-credit courses.
The committee proposed the new standard as part of a strategy to improve academic achievement, board member Chad Scott, committee chairman, said following the meeting. It was thought the requirement might motivate some students to do better in their academic subjects, he said.
But some parents in the audience said they believed the proposal needed more thought and at least one student, who spoke at the pre-board meeting, said the proposed motion set the bar too high.
Rick West of Morris Township urged the board to table the motion, speaking of the problems that developed after Trinity School District increased its eligibility requirements.
Athletics does help keep some students in school and gives them an opportunity to be involved in a school function, he said. Not everyone goes on to college, he added.
The number of students participating in sports and other activities, such as band, also declined after the requirement was established, he said. This impacted even the students who did well academically and wanted to participate in an extracurricular activity but found themselves on teams or in band with few other members.
Ben Brudnock urged the board to give the matter more thought and not implement a new standard until the district had a plan in place to provide support for students who didn’t meet the eligibility requirement. Providing tutoring to students who failed to meet the requirement was one option discussed.
Parent Darlene VanNorman told the board she would like to see higher standards, but was concerned the proposal might be discouraging to some students. She, too, suggested the matter be discussed further in committee.
After no motion was made to approve the eligibility requirement listed on the agenda, board member Joe Coss presented a motion that would require students to have a 66 percent average for all courses combined to participate in extracurricular activities.
The motion failed in a 5-3 vote. Coss, Kelly Loughman and Mike Pikula voted in favor of it; board member Tom Coss was absent.
Loughman said it was apparent from the discussion parents want a higher standard and though the motion set the standard lower than the one proposed she believed it would encourage some effort by students to elevate their grades.
Pikula, too, said though the motion presented a lower standard than proposed, he believed it was at least a start in the right direction.
Scott asked the board to table Coss’s motion to give the committee more time to further consider the issue and make sure programs such as tutoring are in place to help those having trouble meeting the standard.
Regina MacDowell and Butch Cassiday agreed more discussion of the issue was necessary.
In other business, the board approved the after-school activity buses that will run two weeks during the fall, winter and spring sports seasons. The administration will decide whether the buses will be cancelled based on the number of students that use them.
Superintendent Thelma Szarell said the number of students who ride the buses has fallen off and now averages only three or four students a trip. The motion said continuation of the service would be based on the buses averaging 10 students a trip.
The board awarded a contract for replacing the roof on the administration building to the Ramp Construction Co. for $23,750. Ramp was he second lowest bidder; the board determined the low bidder was not a responsible bidder.
James Elsenheimer, director of food service, reported the district expects to receive a grant to continue its food backpack program that provides backpacks of food to students in need to help feed them during the weekends.
The district will have about $4,900 for the program that costs about $8,800 a year to operate. The program serves about 57 students on average. The district hopes to get additional contributions to support the program, he said.