Committee studying grades of students involved in activities

One school board member is concerned that the board is trying to fix something that isn't broken. A school administrator said he isn't aware that the grades of students involved in activities are "substandard."

McCook Public Schools board of education member Diane Lyons reported at the board's monthly meeting Monday evening that the board's activities committee continues to research the possibility of strengthening academic requirements for students' participation in activities.

Lyons said committee members have surveyed academic requirements at 26 Nebraska schools and have visited with McCook coaches and activities sponsors. The committee will make its recommendations to the full board in May.

McCook High Schools' academic guidelines follow exactly those written by the Nebraska School Activities Association, which requires that a student pass four classes in the previous semester to be eligible for varsity competition in any NSAA-sanctioned sport or activity.

Tuesday morning following the school board meeting, McCook Senior High Principal Jerry Smith said that clubs often have their own eligibility requirements, including the 90 percent grade-point-average required by the National Honor Society. Clubs that focus on a particular field, such as science or math, have their own grade-point requirements, Smith said.

Lyons said that strengthening McCook's requirements for activities participation was a goal set at goal-setting sessions with the public and among board members in 2005.

Smith told board members Monday evening that he has concerns about changing the school's academic requirements for activities participation. "I did not know that the academic achievement of our students in activities was substandard," he said.

Board member Mike Gonzales questioned whether the system "needed to be fixed if it isn't broken."

Smith said at the board meeting that he feels the board's activities committee has completely circumvented school administration, and that he has not been approached by committee members about McCook's requirements for eligibility.

Smith told board members he wants to be involved, especially if it comes down to a student not participating because of his or her grades.

Smith firmly believes that students involved in activities do well in academics. In fact, he said, he often recommends that a student who is having trouble in class participate in an activity. That student's chances for academic achievement improve with participation in an activity, Smith said.

Smith said after the board meeting that he has been involved in schools that use "failure lists" to determine eligibility and feels they often come down to a matter of staff members using them as disciplinary tools. Failure lists can also erode relationships between parents and teachers, he said.

Smith cited a study done by former MHS business teacher and wrestling coach Dean Reicks, whose research for a college paper in 2001 indicated that, for McCook freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors, students who participate in sports performed better in class than students who did not participate in sports.

Reicks told school board members in June, 2001, "The GPA (grade point average) decreases as the number of activities decreases."

Reicks's statistics showed that, as the number of sports in which the student was involved increased, so did the student's grade point average. According to Reicks, students involved in 10 activities had a 97.1 GPA overall, whereas students not involved in any extracurricular activities had an 83.5 GPA.

A more recent study by McCook schools' activities director Rick Haney shows very similar results: That the GPA of students involved in NSAA-sanctioned activities (sports and speech, drama, journalism, debate and music) is higher than that of students not involved in activities. Club members were not included in Haney's report.

Haney's statistics -- from the fall semester of 2005 -- show that the GPA of students participating in activities is 90.46 percent and that they pass 97 percent of their classes.

The GPA of students not involved in activities is 82.39 percent, and they pass 89 percent of their classes.

Haney said he is opposed to changes in McCook's existing policy, which he says allows for the intervention and interaction of parents, teachers, coaches and administrators, consideration of other things going on in a student's life and, most importantly, examination on a case-by-case basis.