So how long before the parents start holding there kids back in 7th grade?
VHSL cracking down on practice of letting student athletes repeat eighth grade
Published 05/23/2006
By STEPHEN IGO -Kingsport Times-News
WISE - The Virginia High School League will crack down on the practice of students repeating eighth grade for the purpose of athletic development, Wise County Supervisor of Secondary Education Gene Rowland told the county school board during Monday's workshop session.
Rowland said the VHSL's executive committee considered emergency legislation May 3 to ban students repeating eighth grade after successfully completing that grade. For many years in Wise County, the practice has been a popular strategy with some parents to hold back their children in order to have another year of playing middle school sports and mature physically and athletically.
At the urging of former interim School Superintendent Nolan Kilgore, the board last year banned the practice but with a one-year phase-in of the policy. However, the new board rescinded the new policy this year, and the practice was poised to continue in Wise County.
Rowland said the VHSL committee will require that students who successfully complete, yet repeat, eighth grade must take five new eighth grade courses during a semester - or three under a block schedule - to be eligible to compete at the eighth-grade level. Another popular aspect of Wise County's holdback strategy was for eighth-grade repeaters to take ninth-grade courses since they already passed all their eighth-grade coursework needed for promotion the previous year.
"The VHSL is going to take a stand (that) if a student takes more ninth-grade classes than eighth-grade classes, they will consider that student a ninth-grader," Rowland said.
Also, the VHSL will now stipulate that every student will enter eighth grade with 10 semesters of athletic eligibility.
"As administrators we've stepped back and let this be a decision left up to the parents and the schools," said School Superintendent Gregory Killough.
He said parents need to know of the VHSL stand on the matter to make informed decisions when it comes to holding their children back in eighth grade.
In other matters, an ailing Board Chairman Barry Nelson fired a broadside at a recent media account of school/county budgetary affairs. He said the board has not added two new administrative positions but merely approved some title changes as a part of Killough's reorganization of central office staff.
Killough originally asked $130,000 for his reorganization, but the board has since shaved that down to under $100,000, potentially a consideration now that the Wise County Board of Supervisors may ask the school board for another $200,000 in cuts from the school division's $825,000 request in new money for next fiscal year.
On Monday, Nelson said the $825,000 request was "a sum we were told would be acceptable" and $500,000 less than what the school board initially considered. Nelson indicated he was not pleased with a media account that apparently included comments unfavorable to the school board. He said the budget process "is not about personalities" but the focus of all involved with school issues should always be for the good of the children.
Recovering from recent surgery, Nelson then left the meeting and the gavel in the hands of Vice Chair Kyle Fletcher.
In other matters, the board took a look at a broad scope of potential renovations that may be required at the county's six high schools, honored 32 retiring teachers, reviewed a high school Standards of Learning report, and perused suggested price hikes for school lunches for the next school year.
If approved during the June 5 session, student breakfasts will go up by 15 cents to 75 cents; elementary lunches by 15 cents to $1.25; secondary school lunches by 25 cents to $1.50; and adult lunches by 15 cents to $2.50.
Rowland also reported 448 graduates this past school year, including 26 students with a 4.0 GPA or higher, 193 receiving advanced diplomas, and a total of a little over $1 million in scholarship money netted.
Twenty-six graduates formed St. Paul's Class of '06, and there were 43 in Appalachia's graduating class, 61 at Pound, 99 at Coeburn, 106 at Powell Valley, and 112 at J.J. Kelly.
So how long before the parents start holding there kids back in 7th grade?
Some kids who hold back in the seventh grade have a hard time focusing and end up getting into trouble. When a parent is allowing their child to hold back and their child is an A/B student, it only hurts the kid. They get bored in the classroom and don't apply themselves. This gives them bad habits as they go on through high school. Just my opinion.
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When a parent is allowing their child to hold back and their child is an A/B student, it only hurts the kid. They get bored in the classroom and don't apply themselves. This gives them bad habits as they go on through high school. Just my opinion.
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My brother is extremely smart...and a holdback. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] And will have more than enough college credits to be a sophomore by the time he begins his college career (more than likely at Virginia Tech...and more than likely in Engineering).
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Rowland said the VHSL committee will require that students who successfully complete, yet repeat, eighth grade must take five new eighth grade courses during a semester - or three under a block schedule - to be eligible to compete at the eighth-grade level.
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Why??
Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war minus the shooting.
George Orwell
If they hold back in the seventh grade it would hurt them. Holding back in the eighth grade will help them out academically, but should a student in high school with enough credits to be a college sophomore be allowed to play when he/she should have already graduated? The VHSL may need to look into that one.
About 2.5 seconds.
Thats kind of what I was thinking as well....the bad thing is that when the kids were holding back in 8th grade enen if it was "Just for sports" they had a shot at leaving HS with some collage credit under there belt which if done in 7th grade would no longer be the case...
I also wonder if this would affect students that hold back 8th grade in another state before transfering to a Virginia school (Yes I was thinking about GC please don't shoot me for that LOL [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img])
It said that a student would have 10 semesters once entering the eighth grade. I read that to mean that it doesn't matter where you started school. If I started the eighth grade at Sullivan North and held back over there, then I would have used up four semesters of sports even if I didn't play at all. Once I enter the ninth grade, I would have six more semesters left to play, therefore, I would be unable to play my senior year because I have already had a chance to play my ten semesters. Remember that just because you have ten semesters doesn't mean that you have to use them. If you choose not to play a sport, then you lose your chance to play.
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but should a student in high school with enough credits to be a college sophomore be allowed to play when he/she should have already graduated?
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Even a student that doesn't hold back (or even play sports at all) can take college classes when they are an upper-classman. Hmmm....The school systems better look in to that as well. Maybe just eliminating dual-enrollment or AP courses would stop this?
I just don't understand why you think taking college classes in high school is a bad thing. If a student is ready for those classes and is able to test into the course, what's wrong with letting them take the more advanced courses? How is that a disadvantage to non-holdback athletes?
Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war minus the shooting.
George Orwell
That is a great question Counts because this is a VHSL rule, not a NFHSA rule. I don't see how they would be able to mandate this over a student who has moved from another state and wants to participate.
For instance in TN, 8th graders can participate in varsity athletics. You don't see too many people looking at TN transfers into VA and questioning whether or not they have used 2 semesters of their eligiblity in the 8th grade then.
"Call me crazy, but I want to buy the Dallas Cowboys end zone and have the star right at the foot of my bed. That way when I score, I can spike the ball right on the star!" -Woody Paige, Around the Horn 10.9.08
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