District revising standards

Post Falls High School administrators, coaches, parents and students are revamping the school’s extracurricular activities program, evaluating the standards students must meet to participate in sports and other programs, but it appears unlikely that coaches’ conduct will be included in the effort.

“With us growing as fast as we are, we need to keep up,” said Post Falls School District Superintendent Jerry Keane of the committee convened to examine extracurricular activities in the district.

Students who play sports or join other clubs and groups often improve their academic performance, said activity director Craig Christensen.

Still, participating in athletics is a privilege, and it’s important to make sure that students are getting acceptable grades before they step onto the court or field, Christensen said.

When the 12-member extracurricular advisory committee began meeting last fall, Idaho standards mandated that students only had to pass four classes in the previous semester to play sports.

That meant a student could get a D in those four courses and even fail a fifth, yet still play.

“Originally we were looking at making it more stringent, but we wanted to see what the state would come up with,” Christensen said.

The Post Falls committee’s work on that count was made a bit easier in December when the state of Idaho decreed that students must have a 2.0 grade-point average to participate in school sports. It’s up to individual districts, however, to determine how to deal with student athletes who don’t meet that standard. They could put them on probation, kick them off teams or offer some sort of tutoring to help them better their grades.

The committee is still working on that part of the equation.

“The last thing any of us want to do is exclude any athletes,” Christensen said.

Post Falls High School basketball coach Mike McLean said a C-average is a reasonable standard for all of his athletes and that he will help any player struggling with a particular course.

“I expect my students to be leaders at the school,” he said of standards on the court, in the classroom and outside school.

Behavior outside academics is also being examined by the advisory group which is taking another look at the students’ “Code of Conduct.” Failing to meet that code can mean suspension or complete ejection from activities.

Not many students violate that code, but there have been issues with drinking, chronic tardiness and chewing tobacco.

“You’ve got to realize you’re working with adolescents and they are going to make some mistakes,” said Post Falls cross country coach Brian Trefry.

Trefry said the key to handling problems when they crop up is having a code of conduct that offers consequences but also enough flexibility to help students and get them back on track.

Christensen said he doesn’t anticipate any major changes in that code of conduct, since it is already fairly stringent. It’s in effect 365 days a year. Those who violate the code may miss as much as 80 percent of a sports season unless they perform community service or attend counseling. Even with those actions a student athlete would still be barred from playing for 30 percent of the sports season, Christensen said.

McLean’s one issue with the code is that it isn’t matched in other districts. “Some teams that we compete against, their athletes aren’t held to as high a standard,” he said.

Still McLean said student athletes benefit from the code which better prepares them for life outside school and in the workplace.

Post Falls School Board chairwoman Donagene Turnbow said that some parents have been asking for a code of conduct for coaches.

“They felt the coaches are role models and should be held accountable, too,” Turnbow said.

But Christensen said that topic has barely been discussed in the group’s meetings.

“We only had a minute conversation about that,” Christensen said, adding that the group might work on developing a coaches’ handbook.

A Post Falls code of conduct is unnecessary for coaches, Trefry said.

That’s because all school coaches are already overseen by the Idaho High School Activities Association’s code of conduct, he explained.

Those are only guidelines, however, not binding rules.

Still, Trefry said that local coaches behave in exemplary fashion. “Coaches at Post Falls High School are good role models and everything you would want.”