School Targets Students Below GPA Line
By Alison Damast, The Stamford Advocate, Conn.
May 4–NORWALK — Norwalk High School plans to use a pilot program next year that will support students with low grades who want to participate in sports and other extracurricular activities.
The program will target students whose grades are below a 1.7 grade-point average, the cutoff for a student who wants to play on a team. Students with a grade-point average lower than 1.7 are not allowed to participate in after-school clubs and sports, according to a Board of Education policy.
Norwalk High School Athletic Director Wayne Mones said he wants to target students who might be drawn to gangs if they are excluded from sports because of their grades.
“A lot of kids who are ineligible are just out of the loop and never get back into the loop,” said Mones, also a guidance counselor. “I just know the kid who leaves school at 2:15 p.m. and is not involved, we kind of lose. I wanted to see how we could get these kids connected with after-school activities.”
The school board reviewed the Norwalk High proposal Tuesday in a meeting at City Hall. It is expected to vote on the pilot program at the next school board meeting, May 16.
Students who want to play on a sports team but have poor grades will be required to enroll in the program before the beginning of the sports season, according to the proposal. Once the next marking period begins, students will be required to attend a one-hour study session after school four times a week, where they will be tutored by a math and English teacher. Tutors will talk regularly with the students’ teachers and write weekly progress reports on each student.
Students will be allowed to play on the sports team if they maintain a grade-point average of 1.7 each week. If their grades drop below the requirements, they may not participate in sports until they raise their marks, Mones said. Mones said he and the school’s athletic coaches will closely monitor student participation.
In addition, parents of students in the program will be required to talk with a guidance counselor at the school twice a week about their child’s progress.
The program will be open to 20 students and will cost $15,810 to implement. It will likely be funded by a grant through the I Have a Dream Foundation, Mones said.
School Superintendent Salvatore Corda said he supports the program and believes it would motivate at-risk students to improve their grades.
“If we can create the kind of situation where people know that people are counting on you to participate in the team, it creates not only an internal pressure that the kid puts on himself, but it creates a team pressure,” Corda said.
Board of Education member Richard Fuller said the program would provide students with a structure that helps them succeed academically.
“One thing this does is it sort of level the playing field so all coaches are concerned about students’ grade-point average,” Fuller said.
If the program is a success, it could be expanded to include other schools in the district, Corda said.
Norwalk High boys baseball Coach Angelo Bruno said grades keep a few students off his team every season.
“It sounds like it will help the kid that is trying,” Bruno said. “This way, if the kid is working hard and didn’t get cut, it will give him some chance of proving himself. As long as he holds up his end of the bargain, that’s a good idea.”
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