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Stafford High track performer stopped by regulations SCHOOL RULES

Student who transfers to Stafford High from unaccredited private school is unable to play sports the first semester

Date published: 12/5/2007

BY JEFF BRANSCOME

Some mornings before school, 16-year-old Vincent Wagner lifts weights with his track coach.

The Stafford High School junior has excelled at the 200-yard dash during practice and enjoys running hurdles.

Problem is, he can't compete at the Stafford County school's track meets.

It's not because of his grades or behavior, but because the school division wouldn't accept his credits when he transferred from an unaccredited private school.

Stafford High Athletic Director Wes Bergazzi refused to talk about individual cases, but said the school follows Virginia High School League guidelines.

Some of the VHSL's policies are designed to discourage students from shopping around for the best athletic program.

"I think it was created with good intentions, but it just becomes part of the bureaucracy and red tape," Vincent said. "It just becomes a mess."

He transferred to Stafford this fall from Mariamante Academy in Fredericksburg, which temporarily closed because of financial issues. Mariamante had 34 students enrolled this fall.

Vincent and his mother, Marie Wagner, said they learned the news last Monday, less than a week before the team's first track meet.

Vincent said he doesn't think he will be eligible for sports until he passes five classes this semester--which ends Jan. 29--or passes five Standards of Learning exams. He's scheduled to take some SOLs next Wednesday.

Transfers who have spent at least a year at accredited private schools can immediately participate in sports at Stafford but must eventually make up some SOL tests.

Ken Tilley, VHSL's executive director, referred to a policy that states students must have passed five classes the previous semester to be eligible for sports.

Vincent passed all his classes for the first marking period at Stafford, his mother said, and passed all his classes at private school.

Meanwhile, James Monroe High School Athletic Director Rich Serbay said he knows of at least one Mariamante transfer who played junior-varsity football this year.

"When a kid transfers in from a private school, I say that's great because those kids are usually good, solid students," Serbay said. "Deep in my heart, I think I'm doing what's right."

VHSL Deputy Director Tom Zimorski said it's up to each school whether to accept a transfer's credits.

"The issue is not whether the school is accredited or not," he said.

Vincent is still practicing with the winter track team but didn't go to the meet Saturday. Still, he showed up at school at 6 a.m. Monday to lift weights with his coach, his mother said.

"It's real hard when the system makes it so difficult," Marie Wagner said. "They were encouraged by guidance counselors to join sports because they knew the transfer would be hard."

FOR ALL STUDENTS To be eligible for sports, the Virginia High School League says: "The student shall for the first semester be currently enrolled in not fewer than five subjects, or their equivalent, offered for credit and which may be used for graduation and have passed five subjects, or their equivalent, offered for credit and which may be used for graduation the immediately preceding year or the immediately preceding semester for schools that certify credit on a semester basis." FOR TRANSFERS For students transferring from unaccredited schools, the VHSL says "schools may review course descriptions, lesson plans, tests, or other appropriate documentation from the student's previous school in making decisions regarding the acceptability of the standard units of credit."

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Date published: 12/5/2007

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