High School Ineligibility

[coacha]

So, we are still in my 2nd year at this school, and this will be the 3rd time I have a cheerleader ineligible the week of a competition (all different cheerleaders). Considering we only did 3 competitions last year and are on our 3rd this year, those percentages are pretty ridiculous.

We get an ineligibility list every Sunday. Anyone on the list is ineligible for any sport until the following Sunday when the list is renewed. To be eligible, a student must have 4 passing full credit classes.

There is nothing more frustrating than waking up the Monday morning before a competition and reading an email from the AD stating so-and-so is ineligible this week. Does anyone else have this problem and is there any solution at all?

 

[cheer25mom]

Is that a state rule or a system/school rule? To avoid this kind of thing, in our state eligibility status can only change when credits are assigned for classes, either at the semester or the year.

 

[coacha]

Is that a state rule or a system/school rule? To avoid this kind of thing, in our state eligibility status can only change when credits are assigned for classes, either at the semester or the year.

As far as I know, it's only a school rule. It's most frustrating at the beginning of marking periods when one bad grade can pull their average down. They may have plenty of time to pull it up for final grades but in the meantime it affects their eligibility.

 

[cheer25mom]

As far as I know, it's only a school rule. It's most frustrating at the beginning of marking periods when one bad grade can pull their average down. They may have plenty of time to pull it up for final grades but in the meantime it affects their eligibility.

that would drive me nuts, and I honestly don't think its fair to the kids for one assignment to lead to them sitting out.

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

So, we are still in my 2nd year at this school, and this will be the 3rd time I have a cheerleader ineligible the week of a competition (all different cheerleaders). Considering we only did 3 competitions last year and are on our 3rd this year, those percentages are pretty ridiculous.

We get an ineligibility list every Sunday. Anyone on the list is ineligible for any sport until the following Sunday when the list is renewed. To be eligible, a student must have 4 passing full credit classes.

There is nothing more frustrating than waking up the Monday morning before a competition and reading an email from the AD stating so-and-so is ineligible this week. Does anyone else have this problem and is there any solution at all?

Are you a Kentucky school?

If so, this is a KHSAA high school eligibility rule. Even if you're not in KY, I'd be weary of assuming it's a school rule and not a state association rule. Every state has academic eligibility standards. I'm assuming most, if not all, of them extend into cheerleading, even if cheerleading doesn't fall under the state athletic association. Regardless, it's important to remember that the primary focus of school athletic programs is to support and reinforce academics, not the other way around.

With that said, we have had similar problems at the beginning of a term. It's especially frustrating when the grades are there, they're adequate, but the teacher has failed to enter them into the grade reporting system. We have adopted a soft-policy of speaking directly with the teachers and asking "is this grade a true representation of the students progress in your class?" If the teacher comes back with, "yes, they've failed every assignment," then the athlete is just out of luck.

Unfortunately, this is part of the game with school cheer. Let's be honest, though, I exhibited ZERO effort in high school, never took a book home, never did homework, and still finished with a 3.15. There's no excuse for failing grades.

 

[cheer25mom]

Are you a Kentucky school?

If so, this is a KHSAA high school eligibility rule. Even if you're not in KY, I'd be weary of assuming it's a school rule and not a state association rule. Every state has academic eligibility standards. I'm assuming most, if not all, of them extend into cheerleading, even if cheerleading doesn't fall under the state athletic association. Regardless, it's important to remember that the primary focus of school athletic programs is to support and reinforce academics, not the other way around.

With that said, we have had similar problems at the beginning of a term. It's especially frustrating when the grades are there, they're adequate, but the teacher has failed to enter them into the grade reporting system. We have adopted a soft-policy of speaking directly with the teachers and asking "is this grade a true representation of the students progress in your class?" If the teacher comes back with, "yes, they've failed every assignment," then the athlete is just out of luck.

Unfortunately, this is part of the game with school cheer. Let's be honest, though, I exhibited ZERO effort in high school, never took a book home, never did homework, and still finished with a 3.15. There's no excuse for failing grades.

Assuming it s a regular ed student, but many states, including some that surround us, make no distinction between a child with a diagnosed learning disability and a regular student. Some of those kids are capable of playing a sport, not eligible for self contained special education, and have to work for every point in the general ed classroom. In many instances, they are working as hard as they can for their barely passing grades. Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to skate through without trying.

 

[tojofasho]

Assuming it s a regular ed student, but many states, including some that surround us, make no distinction between a child with a diagnosed learning disability and a regular student. Some of those kids are capable of playing a sport, not eligible for self contained special education, and have to work for every point in the general ed classroom. In many instances, they are working as hard as they can for their barely passing grades. Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to skate through without trying.

Students with diagnosed learning disabilities have IEPs assigned to them, and it is literally illegal for teachers to not implement what is on the IEP for the student. This means most of the time they get modified tests, modified assignments, and a modified grading scale, which is adjusted for every single student individually. The accommodations are in place and, as long as the teacher is implementing them as they are legally obligated to, the student should still be able to pass.

With that being said, yes, it is certainly much harder for them to pass. And if a teacher is not implementing the accommodations, then it is on them and they can be fired. As a teacher and a coach, I get the frustration from both sides. Last season a basketball player with an F in my class played a game and I threw a fit to the athletic director because academics are the focus of school, so the kid was removed entirely from the team and the coach placed on probation for breaking school policy on ineligibility. As a coach, I hate getting that list and seeing kids are ineligible - it destroys me taking them out of the routine, but I understand why the rule is in place.

I had a policy this year that I would take girls out of every routine if they had a D, even though only F's are required to sit per school policy. This way, if that D did drop to an F and they were officially out, I didn't have to rearrange my entire routine because they already weren't in it. Trust me, those girls kicked their cute little booties into gear the first time I made one of them sit for a D, and I haven't had any issues since. But you gotta stick to it, or they'll let their grades drop and you might lose one at the last second.

Talking to the teachers helps - if a student has a bad grade because I haven't entered assignments that were turned in over a week ago, I'll always say "hey, this is my fault, let me enter that assignment and if it brings their grade up I'll email the AD directly to let them know it was my mistake and the kid should be cleared." However, teachers need at least a week to grade things, so if you have a kid saying "Well I turned in my essay late but I got it in the day before grade checks!", then that isn't on the teacher, it's on the athlete for turning it in late and expecting it to show up right away on their grade.

I rambled a lot. Ineligibility is a topic I get really heated on, both as a teacher and as a coach, but what it boils down to is "Hey, school is why you're here, and if you need to sit and study during games/competitions instead of performing then you will do that." The only exception I had to my D rule was if it dropped to a D the week of a competition - I'm not going to rearrange the routine the week of unless they're told they have to sit by the AD.

 

[AScheer]

So, we are still in my 2nd year at this school, and this will be the 3rd time I have a cheerleader ineligible the week of a competition (all different cheerleaders). Considering we only did 3 competitions last year and are on our 3rd this year, those percentages are pretty ridiculous.

We get an ineligibility list every Sunday. Anyone on the list is ineligible for any sport until the following Sunday when the list is renewed. To be eligible, a student must have 4 passing full credit classes.

There is nothing more frustrating than waking up the Monday morning before a competition and reading an email from the AD stating so-and-so is ineligible this week. Does anyone else have this problem and is there any solution at all?

Fortunately, our school doesn't operate weekly. That would be super frustrating! Mid-term progress reports act as a warning, and final grades are the only thing that will effect eligibility. Some sport seasons are so short they never see a report card period, and therefore don't worry about grades. With cheer being year round, it's something we check but not something that effects us too much. We require a copy of their report card to even tryout. The main reason for that is to see what their history is and how they do over the course of a year in classes. We cut kids that have failing or consistently low grades so that we don't run into grade issues throughout the year.

The biggest issue we face is the random unannounced pep rally checks. The school will use pep rallies as incentive. The DAY OF the pep rally an email goes out with a list of ALL the students with missing work or failing grades. Any kid athlete or not that is on the list can't attend the pep rally and must stay in class to work. This one gets us a lot for missing work. There is nothing more frustrating than walking into that gym to warm-up for the pep rally and finding out 3 cheerleaders won't be there. Last year one of our alternate bases learned to fly in the center prep of our pyramid minutes before the pep rally started because of this rule. I'm not a teacher, so I don't get the list in advance. They don't do this every pep rally because they like to keep everyone on their toes.

 

[cheer25mom]

Students with diagnosed learning disabilities have IEPs assigned to them, and it is literally illegal for teachers to not implement what is on the IEP for the student. This means most of the time they get modified tests, modified assignments, and a modified grading scale, which is adjusted for every single student individually. The accommodations are in place and, as long as the teacher is implementing them as they are legally obligated to, the student should still be able to pass.

With that being said, yes, it is certainly much harder for them to pass. And if a teacher is not implementing the accommodations, then it is on them and they can be fired. As a teacher and a coach, I get the frustration from both sides. Last season a basketball player with an F in my class played a game and I threw a fit to the athletic director because academics are the focus of school, so the kid was removed entirely from the team and the coach placed on probation for breaking school policy on ineligibility. As a coach, I hate getting that list and seeing kids are ineligible - it destroys me taking them out of the routine, but I understand why the rule is in place.

I had a policy this year that I would take girls out of every routine if they had a D, even though only F's are required to sit per school policy. This way, if that D did drop to an F and they were officially out, I didn't have to rearrange my entire routine because they already weren't in it. Trust me, those girls kicked their cute little booties into gear the first time I made one of them sit for a D, and I haven't had any issues since. But you gotta stick to it, or they'll let their grades drop and you might lose one at the last second.

Talking to the teachers helps - if a student has a bad grade because I haven't entered assignments that were turned in over a week ago, I'll always say "hey, this is my fault, let me enter that assignment and if it brings their grade up I'll email the AD directly to let them know it was my mistake and the kid should be cleared." However, teachers need at least a week to grade things, so if you have a kid saying "Well I turned in my essay late but I got it in the day before grade checks!", then that isn't on the teacher, it's on the athlete for turning it in late and expecting it to show up right away on their grade.

I rambled a lot. Ineligibility is a topic I get really heated on, both as a teacher and as a coach, but what it boils down to is "Hey, school is why you're here, and if you need to sit and study during games/competitions instead of performing then you will do that." The only exception I had to my D rule was if it dropped to a D the week of a competition - I'm not going to rearrange the routine the week of unless they're told they have to sit by the AD.

An IEP doesn't mean the kid is going to pass however, even if the teacher implements the accommodations. In our state, if a student is trying for a regular high school diploma, we cannot change the curriculum expectations, only make accommodations to help a student reach that. For instance, if I am supposed to teach students how to solve 2 step inequalities in algebra, I cannot change that standard to one step equations for a child that cannot solve inequalities. I can only provide support to help him get there. If he cannot meet the standard, I have to grade the work he turns in. Sometimes that means a student who is working and being accommodated fails or scrapes by with a D on material they just aren't developmentally capable of handling. It happens a lot with students with disabilities who are trying to earn a regular high school diploma, particularly in the younger grades. Sometimes they have to fail to realize they need an altered curriculum. Some of them CANNOT do it, even when the teacher makes the accommodations.

 

[cheerisloving]

Are you a Kentucky school?

If so, this is a KHSAA high school eligibility rule. Even if you're not in KY, I'd be weary of assuming it's a school rule and not a state association rule. Every state has academic eligibility standards. I'm assuming most, if not all, of them extend into cheerleading, even if cheerleading doesn't fall under the state athletic association. Regardless, it's important to remember that the primary focus of school athletic programs is to support and reinforce academics, not the other way around.

With that said, we have had similar problems at the beginning of a term. It's especially frustrating when the grades are there, they're adequate, but the teacher has failed to enter them into the grade reporting system. We have adopted a soft-policy of speaking directly with the teachers and asking "is this grade a true representation of the students progress in your class?" If the teacher comes back with, "yes, they've failed every assignment," then the athlete is just out of luck.

Unfortunately, this is part of the game with school cheer. Let's be honest, though, I exhibited ZERO effort in high school, never took a book home, never did homework, and still finished with a 3.15. There's no excuse for failing grades.

Cheer is a sport where I am so they fall under state athletics rules. If I recall, we only had to pass 4 classes (7 classes total) to be eligible, and we did this when we did a grade verification in January when it was midterms. We basically went to every teacher and they'd write our grades for the first semester and if we were going to pass the class.

During the season, if you were failing class you had mandatory athletic study hall. Still eligible just had to go to study hall. My senior and junior years this changed and it was really dependent on the team. My coach didn't work in the school so she was in the dark about academics but teachers were adamant about letting her know how someone was doing, and benching girls for academics. Parental intervention played a role too. I had a C/B in an AP class and sat out of two games. I had the highest GPA on the team lol.

Our boys bball team probably had the strictest academic rules. They had binders that teachers sign to verify their attendance, behavior and effort. When they don't have all their signatures, they condition 10x harder. Their coaching staff works in the school. We have a good program so they really can't risk anyone being in danger of failing midseason.