Norfolk considers lowering academic hurdle for freshman athletes

NORFOLK

City school administrators want to loosen academic requirements for ninth-grade athletes to keep them engaged in school and out of trouble.

They worry that freshmen banned from sports might turn to neighborhood gangs or other negative influences.

Last school year, three of every 10 rising ninth-graders in Norfolk - or 715 students - did not have the minimum 2.0 grade-point average required to play sports, according to division records.

"If we don't get them when they first come in as a ninth-grader, we don't get them back," Granby High School Principal Ted Daughtrey said.

The city's current academic standard for incoming freshmen athletes, based on a 4.0 GPA scale, is stricter than all other South Hampton Roads school divisions except Chesapeake. In Norfolk, they need at least an overall "C" average in the spring semester of eighth grade.

School Superintendent Stephen C. Jones is considering exempting freshmen from the 2.0 GPA requirement for either one semester - as Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach allow - or for the whole ninth-grade year.

Exempting freshmen for the year would make Norfolk's policy the most lenient in South Hampton Roads.

Under Jones' proposals, teachers and coaches would closely monitor the students' grades and require extra time on school work.

"We're not lowering the standards by having a 'clean slate' policy," said Dave Hudak, Granby's head football coach. "We're giving more students the opportunity to get motivated about their grades."

Hudak said he lost about 30 junior varsity athletes - mostly freshmen - because of the 2.0 rule two years ago, and only a quarter of them tried out again.

A year ago, Daughtrey said, a freshman unable to play football because of grades got involved in a serious gang-related fight. He received a long-term suspension and didn't return to Granby, the principal said.

"If he had been on our teams, and our coaches had been able to watch out for him, he might still be with us," Daughtrey said.

Still, Daughtrey, Hudak and other administrators did not offer evidence to suggest there is a widespread problem with teens dropping out or getting into serious trouble after being cut from sports programs in the ninth grade.

Student athletes hold differing views on whether they would be more motivated to do well in school if they could play with lower grades. "If I was on the football team, I guarantee that I'd work really hard," said Alphonso Brooks, 15, a ninth-grader at Booker T. Washington High School who wasn't eligible to play sports in the fall.

A classmate in the same situation felt the opposite. "I worked harder this year because they took it away from me," Davvon Matthews, 15, said.

About 2,750 Norfolk students competed in high school sports last year, said Joel Wagner, the school division's director of athletics.

In the late 1990s, Norfolk and other school divisions in South Hampton Roads began raising academic requirements for athletes to ensure that a student's performance on sports teams wasn't placed ahead of classroom learning.

The 2.0 GPA rule adopted then remains among the strictest in Virginia, said Tom Zimorski, deputy director of the Virginia High School League.

In Chesapeake, officials this year endorsed plans to tighten academic rules for middle school sports to prepare students for the 2.0 GPA requirement before they become high school freshmen.

"If our goal is to make our kids r ise up to the next level, they've got to be accountable," said Wayne Martin, director of student services for the Chesapeake school division.

Norfolk already requires a 2.0 for middle school athletes.

Earlier this year, high school principals in Norfolk raised the idea of revisiting athletic eligibility for freshmen. They said making it easier for ninth-graders to play sports would fit in with efforts since 2004 to ease students' transition from middle school.

Jones, the superintendent, was receptive to the principals' pitch.

"There are a host of kids that really would connect with the school early on as ninth-graders if they could connect with the athletic program," Jones said.

While Jones has expressed support, the School Board hasn't publicly discussed changes to freshmen eligibility. Jones said the topic may arise in an upcoming work session about high school programs.

School Board member Billy Cook said he liked the chance to use athletics to hook students but didn't want to lower expectations: "I'm torn."

Board member Stephen Tonelson said providing academic support for the freshmen would be key.

Eighth- and ninth-graders who were shut out of a sport this year said they like the idea of a new beginning in high school.

Some said they became apathetic in the classroom when the chance to participate in athletics evaporated. Kevin Buchanan, a 16-year-old Maury High School freshman, couldn't play basketball this year because of his grades and a broken jaw.

"It was a wake-up call," said his mother, Angela Gill, "because what if you can't play sports? A great athlete with no knowledge, where are you going to go?"

Other students, including Granby freshman Robert Brady, spoke of getting help from coaches, despite not being able to play on their teams. Although he earned two Bs in summer school, Robert didn't have the grades for the football team last fall.

It was a big letdown for him and his mother, Sue Brady.

"I believe an education is very important because there are no guarantees with football," she said. "But I also believe that they should be able to play as long as they are passing all of their classes."

Hudak asked Robert to meet with him after school to work on his homework.

"It made me feel like somebody cares enough about me," Robert, 15, said. "I know for a fact that I will be eligible next year."

Upperclassmen who weren't eligible as freshmen said their time on the sidelines was frustrating, but it helped them learn better work habits and the value of academics.

"I had to cry a lot of nights because I didn't play," said Cordarol Madison, a 19-year-old Booker T. Washington senior who played wide receiver and cornerback on the football team last fall. "It just made me think to myself: My life, it's not just about football."

Amy Jeter, (757) 446-2730, amy.jeter@pilotonline.com

Larry Rubama, (757) 446-2273, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com