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Spotsylvania County School Board begins discussion of sports eligibility policy
By PAMELA GOULD Spotsylvania School Board member Donald Holmes doesn't want the division to develop a policy for county athletes that's a knee-jerk reaction to one incident.
He expressed concern at last night's board meeting about treating students as guilty before being convicted of a crime.
And, he said any policy that applies to student-athletes should apply identically to every student involved in any school activity.
Holmes' remarks came as the School Board began considering a new policy that addresses eligibility for student athletes in grades seven through 12. The county currently has no comprehensive policy and set about to craft one after nine Spotsylvania students were arrested following a beating incident in a neighborhood on a January weekend.
The sheriff's office said the incident was caught on video and has charged each of the students with two counts of malicious wounding by mob. Two teens were hospitalized after the Jan. 11 incident that was unrelated to school activity.
The incident came to the School Board's attention after it was learned that two of the teens charged helped Courtland High School win the Battlefield District title in track and field the next month. The criminal cases are scheduled to be presented to the Spotsylvania grand jury in May.
Last night, the board took its first official look at the 10-page policy that addresses guidelines for eligibility, training and practice sessions. Board member Ray Lora and Superintendent Jerry Hill said that athletes traditionally have been held to a higher standard of conduct than other students, and they feel that's appropriate.
"I don't think our division wants to be known as tolerant of behavior that is less than exemplary," Hill said.
"Nobody is wanting to exclude a child from participating in sports," Hill said. "But on the flip side of that, we want people participating who have earned that right."
Lora echoed those sentiments. "Playing sports, representing a school is not an entitlement, it's a privilege," he said. Lora agreed with Holmes that the same guidelines should apply to students in all activities.
Is there any way we can get back to the issue at hand. It comes down to teachers are underpaid, but that has nothing to do with the fact that these student should not have any rights to participate in a county/school funded sport. What happens when these students get this notion again and then start beating on one of our children for no reason? As a parent I do not want this type of take charge/no consequences type of child. They probably have parents that don't discipline at home either.
I have no way of knowing that you are disabled. I just noted that your syntax and incorrect spelling make it very difficult to follow your train of thought. I apologize (as I did in a previous post) for our misunderstanding. I am, however, going to take exception to your claim that BikerBabe60 is "bullying" you. Her posts are insightful and positive - in my book this does not constitute bullying. I have (and will continue) to keep my posts free of any negative vibes.
Teachers across this state are under paid in comparison to other states. That is a state issue not a county issue. The county is doing the best they can with the money they have. You can always petition to have taxes raised in order to pay the teachers extra money to maintain school websites, or leave the taxes alone and deal with sites that aren't always up to date. You know nothing about me and very little about how the school system works. I suggest you keep quiet about both.
Perhaps if you were nicer and took a little more time in writing your posts, included fact instead of innuendoes they would make more sense. I can’t spell worth a lick but at least run everything I post through a spell checker before I post it.
You posts are very hard to understand and whenever I or anyone else asks you to clarify you get mad and claim we are bullying you.
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