Hearing Will Discuss Minimum GPA For Sports, Extracurricular Activities

Parents, students, coaches, and community members are invited to weigh in on a proposed policy to set minimum academic standards for students to participate on athletic teams and other extracurricular activities.

The hearing will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the gym.

The proposed policy would go into effect for the 2012-2013 school year and require students to maintain a 1.7 grade point average—the equivalent of a C-minus—in order to participate in an extracurricular activity. Students would also be allowed to meet the 1.7 GPA on a weighted scale if they are taking advanced placement courses. The policy proposes increasing the minimum standard to a 2.0 GPA for the 2013-2014 year.

The policy would apply to the entire district but focus mainly on students at the and due to their higher number of extracurricular activities. It would not affect co-curricular activities, which are related to classes and class requirements. These activities include the band and Junior ROTC.

For athletes, students who do not meet the minimum GPA would be placed on a five-week academic probation and be required to improve their grades by the end of this period. If they do not meet the minimum by that time, they would be ineligible for participation on the team until the next grading cycle to determine whether their grades have improved.

Athletes who met the minimum at the start of a grading cycle but fall below it at the end of the cycle would be placed on a two-week academic probation. These students would be allowed to practice during this period, but not take part in games. They would also be deemed ineligible for team participation if their grades have not improved by the end of the probationary period.

For other extracurricular activities, such as clubs and school-sponsored travel, the policy recommends a similar course of action. Students below the minimum GPA at the start of the activity would be placed on five weeks’ academic probation and deemed ineligible for participation if their grades have not improved sufficiently by the end of this period.

Students on academic probation would be required to attend after-school support sessions three times a week. Incoming freshmen at New London High School would be eligible to participate in extracurricular activities if their eighth grade GPA meets the minimum requirement.