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SYRACUSE - As the evening cooled Tuesday night, things began to heat up at the Wawasee School Board meeting.
Each year, the school board is presented with suggested changes to the schools' handbooks. But questions regarding some of the changes showed that not all the school board members share the same philosophies.
Board member Mary Louise Dixon began the "spirited" debate when she questioned the new "athletic eligibility" polices for Wawasee Middle School.
Under the suggested policy all students entering the middle school would automatically be academically eligible for fall sports. But they must pass all subjects at progress report time and at the end of each grading period to continue to be eligible to participate in athletics.
If a student receives at least one failing grade on a midterm report, they are placed on a one-week probation. If the student brings their grades up to passing by the end of the probation period, they are eligible to fully participate in athletics again. However, if the failing grade hasn't changed to passing, the student is placed on an additional one-week probation period. If the student still has a failing grade after the end of the second week of probation, the student is then ineligible to practice or participate in athletics until the next mid-term report or report card is distributed.
Dixon said she could not see how this policy puts any responsibilities on the students.
WMS assistant principal Ed Parks said the policy promotes students to be participants in the school. Kids need to be able to participate in a club or activity or they may end up on the streets. He said they could try the policy for a year and if it doesn't work, they can change the policy.
Dixon argued it's a policy that is not consistent with the high school program. Parks said the middle school is not under Indiana High School Athletic Association guidelines and is different from the high school but it's a policy other schools in Wawasee's conference have for their athletes.
Dixon said it makes an easy way for kids to be back on a team. "We don't make it easy for kids to get an 'A,' why would we make it easy for them to be on a team?"
The board's vice president, Dallas Winchester, agreed with Dixon, saying the two middle schools need to be consistent with each other with their policies, but are not. He said while they can't compare the middle schools to the high school or elementaries, the two middle schools should be more consistent in their policies.
Objecting to the idea that the two middle schools need to be the same was board member Jeff Wells. The demographics for the two schools are very different, he said, and while there can be broad similarities, the school board should let the schools' administrators do their job and set policies best for each school.
Winchester continued to argue that he couldn't see why the two middle school handbooks couldn't "read about the same."
Parks said he wants to be an advocate for kids and the new policy would allow students to participate in extracurricular activities and keep them off the streets.
"What I want to do is be an advocate for kids and give them a positive experience," he said.
The two middle schools' handbooks are now more consistent with each other than they were six to eight years ago, said Superintendent Dr. Mark Stock.
Winchester said it wasn't just athletics where the handbooks need to be consistent, but the handbooks in general.
Board President Brian Dawes said he wasn't sure the school board should be mandating consistency between the two schools. He said the schools' administrators, at some point, need to be left alone to do their job.
Stock said at the principals' meeting Thursday, they will discuss the inconsistencies.
Dawes then brought up the issue of dress codes and said that any dress code which isn't enforced, should be taken out of the handbooks. If it's in the student handbook, it needs to be enforced.
Wells cautioned the other school board members about not giving the administrators some level of discretion. He said the administrators have to manage the kids and "each situation is different."
Due to legal questions, Stock said enforcement of dress codes has been a struggle. But, board secretary Marion Acton said that always has been the case but dress codes need to be enforced or they shouldn't be on the books. "Rules are made for a purpose," he said.
In other business, the school board:
• Approved an additional appropriation resolution for $35,714.
• Held the first reading of a resolution ratifying the joint service agreement for the North Central Indiana Special Education Cooperative. The agreement must be approved by all five of the school corporations in the cooperative, which includes the school corporations of Bremen, Tippecanoe Valley, Warsaw, Wawasee and Whitko.
The agreement narrows the scope of the cooperative, describes the types of projects that will require cooperation between participating corporations and includes the desire for continued sharing of expertise and solution seeking in the form of study council groups. The new agreement adjusts the specific duties of all the corporations, giving more autonomy and control to each of the corporations.
It also reflects the elimination of a jointly operated budget.
Local responsibility and autonomy for personnel decisions are included in the agreement.
Board members are president Brian Dawes, vice president Dallas Winchester, secretary Marion Acton, Jeff Wells and Mary Louise Dixon. Their next meeting is May 13 at 7 p.m. at Milford School.
