Tippy Valley School Board Hears Athletic Grade Policy Options
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
AKRON – In its third month of discussing grades and athletics, Tippecanoe Valley High School Assistant Principal Jon Hutton presented the school board with three policy options. However, he recommended the board keep the athletic guidelines as they are now. The first option is the Progressive F policy used by Madison Grant High School, which would put a student on probation upon receiving the first F during a semester. If they have another F either in the same class or in another class, they will be suspended from playing. The grade for the semester takes precedence over the nine-weeks grade. It is possible to be suspended the first nine weeks if a student has two F’s on their report card for the same nine weeks. The next available time to be reinstated would be the middle of the grading period of the following grading period where they must be passing all classes to be eligible for reinstatement. The second policy, “No Pass No Play,” comes from Triton. Under that policy, students must pass all classes to be able to play. Any F at all during the nine-week period will be enough to remove a student from any sport. This will be until the middle of the following quarter where they must have a passing grade in all classes to be reinstated. “They can get all D-’s and still play,” Hutton commented. “Grade Point” policy comes from Pike High School. Under it, students must have a minimum of a 2.0 grade point average over the course of the nine weeks. It would be at the nine weeks and semester grading periods. The Indiana High School Athletic Association requires an athlete to pass a minimum of five full-credit subjects during the immediately preceding grading period in order to be eligible the following grading period. Hutton said he met with Valley coaches at a recent banquet, as well as talked to several classes and a parent about the athletic policies regarding grades. Coaches were in favor of Valley leaving its athletic policy as it is. The second option they liked was the Progressive F option. “The recommendation is to keep the policy as it is?” Mark Wise, board member, asked. Wise was the board member who initiated the discussion on athletics and grades two months ago when he said he wanted to raise the level of the athletic standards. “I think the recommendation is to keep it as it is,” Hutton replied. “I don’t know that we don’t work very, very hard with our kids as it is to get the best we can out of them. The bar is never a D-. The bar is as high as a student can go.” He indicated changing the policy may exclude more kids from participating. When Hutton discussed the topic with an athletic director from another local school corporation, the athletic director thanked Hutton for Valley handing over its students if they passed the new policies because it will affect enrollment. Teacher and football coach Jeff Shriver agreed with a parent’s comments that school’s purpose is academics, but sometimes extracurricular activities like sports are the “carrot on the stick” that keeps kids in school and motivated. Some of Valley’s students are the first generation of high school graduates. They understand that if they do bad, they can’t play sports, and Shriver said they don’t want to lose that “carrot.” “I don’t want to lose that opportunity to reach those kids to reach that bar,” he said. Right now under the athletic policy, he said, when midterms come out the fifth week, if a student is not passing five classes, they’re suspended. Wise said raising the bar won’t take away the carrot, it just raises the level the student has to achieve to. Shriver said not every parent in the community sees everything the same way. Some parents are in jail, perhaps in jail for meth. A coach may be the only positive person their children have contact with. “I’m trying to get kids to achieve to their full potential,” Shriver said. He added that some kids can’t achieve to the same levels as other students can. Board President Bryan Murphy asked Wise how much higher did he want the bar to be. The board agreed four to five years ago on its current policy. Wise said he just thought the bar needed to be raised. If it affects Valley’s enrollment, it’ll raise the corporation’s scores even higher with the kids it does have left. Shriver said a policy change would only affect maybe one student. Sarah Tillman, middle school success coach, said there was a thin line between pushing kids and pushing them too hard. She knows of two boys who are coming back for their senior year just to play football. If Valley says one “F” means they’re done playing, the two boys would just give up. Murphy said any new policy wouldn’t be just for sports. He would push to include all extracurricular activities, like drama club. “I want something more than what it is. I’m not comfortable with staying where it is,” Wise said. The board decided to discuss it further at its special meeting June 24 at 7 p.m. at the administration office.
