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PIERCETON - Beverly Winget, a parent of a Whitko Middle School athlete, told the Whitko Community School Corp. Board of School Trustees Monday that a part of the student handbook regarding eligibility is inconsistent.
The rule states: "A student who received one 'F' or any number of incompletes on a report card or mid-term is ineligible. He/she may practice but may not play in a contest or participate in the activity for 10 school days from the date the report card or mid-term comes out.
"If during the 10-day period, the student's incomplete is changed to passing, he/she is now eligible to play in contests or participate in the activity after the teacher has informed the coach or sponsor of the grade change.
"If at the end of the 10-day period, the student is still earning an 'F' in that class or if the incompletes have not been changed to passing grades, the student is now ineligible to play in a contest, to practice or to attend a contest or a practice or in any way participate in an activity until the next report card or mid-term.
"... If a student has more than one incomplete, all incompletes must be changed to passing grades in order for the student to become eligible. Incompletes due to an absence of unusual duration will be handled on an individual basis."
Winget told the school board that the policy is not clear what a student who brings his or her "F" up to a passing grade can do and that the policy needs clarification. The way it reads now, she said, is easily misinterpreted.
"I do not feel it is fair for a child who hands in an incomplete and passes the grade within the 10-day ineligibility period to be able to then participate, and a child who brings their grade up from an 'F' to a passing grade cannot within that 10 school-day time frame," Winget said.
"I can then only assume that the incompletes referred to above are from students who have not done the required assignments for unexcused reasons. So I cannot see why we would reward a student who did not complete the assignment (and had the same time as the other students) and then handed in the assignment and received a passing grade, and not reward the student who did hand in the assignment, received an 'F', and brought that grade up to a passing grade."
She said she believed "it should be both or neither. I further believe that if we want to encourage our students, then it should be both, because if they make the effort to improve, they have already been 'punished' enough by missing out on the practices, meets, games that they have already missed before bringing up the grades, in both the case of the incomplete assignment and the 'F'."
School board president Dave Tranter told Winget the policy would be given extra evaluation in the spring when the policy committee reviews the handbook.
