Alamance-Burlington school board members have voted 6-1 to eliminate a 12-year-old policy that had required student-athletes to maintain a C average in order to be eligible to participate in school-sponsored athletics.
The policy requiring student-athletes to maintain a minimum of a 2.0 grade point average, or a C average, had been adopted on a 5-2 vote in December 2013.
The old policy required all ABSS high school student-athletes to maintain a 2.0 GPA – the equivalent of a C average – for the semester immediately before the season in which they planned to participate in sports. The ABSS policy exempted students classified as “exceptional children,” whose athletic eligibility was based on local, state, and federal guidelines that govern EC programs.
At the time, supporters of the minimum GPA requirement said they felt it would ensure that student-athletes would do more than the bare minimum to get by in their classes.
Opponents countered that, in adopting the minimum GPA requirement, ABSS was imposing stricter academic standards than those established by the North Carolina High School Athletics Association (NCHSAA). Guidelines from the state Department of Public Instruction (DPI) have continued to determine athletic eligibility for student-athletes in middle school, according to ABSS officials.
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Elimination of the minimum 2.0 GPA requirement for student athletes “puts us in direct alignment with whatever the current rule is with each of these agencies,” ABSS chief operations officer Greg Hook told school board members last week, referring to the athletic standards set by NCHSAA and DPI.
Student-athletes are required to pass 70 percent of their classes and be present for 85 percent of instructional time in order to qualify to participate in school-sponsored sports, ABSS director of athletics Todd Davis told the board last week. “”We currently have kids that participate who are below a 2.0 GPA,” he said.
School board member Seneca Rogers said that he liked the idea of aligning the athletic eligibility standards for ABSS with those at the state level. “I think that can get confusing for people, when they see one thing from the state and one thing from us,” he said last week. “This does give people a clear line of sight.”
Voting to eliminate the minimum 2.0 GPA requirement were: school board chairman Sandy Ellington-Graves; vice chairman Dan Ingle; and board members Dr. Eric Hall; Tameka Harvey; Dr. Charles Parker; and Rogers. School board member Avery Wagoner voted against eliminating the minimum GPA requirement for student-athletes.
Wagoner told The Alamance News after the meeting that he believes student-athletes should be “held accountable” for their academic performance. “Student first; athlete, second – period,” he said.
