Fewer Students with Disabilities Participating in Extracurricular Activities at GHS

Over the past three years, the number of students with disabilities choosing to participate in extracurricular activities at Greendale High School has been on the decline.

That is one emergent fact in the school district's just completed 'Pupil Non-Discrimination Self-Evaluation.' Every five years, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction requires each state public school district to assess its own methods and practices to ensure it is not discriminating against any particular group of people.

If discriminatory practices are identified, they must be corrected. Upon completion of the assessment, the district superintendent is required to sign a one-page assurance and send it to the D.P.I.

The assessment was part of a presentation given to the Greendale School Board at their November 7 meeting by district administrators.

The current student population at GHS is 964. Ten percent, or approximately 96 students, are identified as having a disability. Only four percent of those students were involved in extracurricular activities for the 2010-11 school year. In 2009-10, the percentage was five percent and for the 2008-09 school year, the percentage of participation was seven percent.

While admitting those overall numbers are small, the district's Director of Pupil Services, Colleen McHugh-Moore, admitted it is troubling.  

"What we want to know is why? What is interfering with these students' participation?," she asked.

School Board member Anne Szygiel agreed, saying, "I feel it is critical to get the students with disabilities involved in activities."

McHugh-Moore indicated there are many quality opportunities for the students to participate in beyond athletics, including activities, clubs and the music and theater programs. She indicated she will work with GHS Athletics/Activities Director Shane Hansen to find out the answers and work on improving the participation rate.

She went on to say the assessment shows that while girls at GHS participate in overall activities at a higher rate, all other groups are fairly represented which 'is good.'

One other trend that stood out to administrators from the assessment is that there is a lack of male students applying for and receiving college scholarships. Only 25-30 percent of scholarships received by GHS students went to boys.

In speaking with district guidance counselors, McHugh-Moore said she learned several key reasons why this could be the case:

• Boys seem less likely to apply for scholarships that require written essays, and the longer the essay required, the less likely boys will apply.
• Some scholarships are gender-or-ethnic specific, which may disqualify a certain percentage of boys.  
• Boys seem less likely to apply if they feel they do not have a good chance of being successful at receiving the scholarship.

In addition, no scholarships were won in the last three years by any GHS students with disabilities.

McHugh-Moore suggested working with the high school English department to make the process less daunting by offering students lessons on how to write an essay for a scholarship application.

Board members agreed that identifying these trouble spots is an important step into making the needed improvements.

School board president Tom Slota said while the assessment will not be required by the state again for another five years, he would like to hear back sooner about the measures being taken to improve things. McHugh-Moore indicated she would report back to the board in the future as requested.