• The minimum 2.0 requirement would apply to all extracurricular activities.

By FULLER ROYAL
Staff Writer

The Whiteville City Schools Board of Education will consider reinstating the minimum 2.0 grade point average (GPA) requirement for participation in all extracurricular activities at Whiteville High School.

The requirement, originally implemented by former superintendent Jerry Paschal, was overturned in late 2004. That requirement applied only to athletes.

The removal of the requirement pushed the school down to the level of the minimum High School Athletic Association’s academic requirement – that athletes pass a majority of their classes each semester.

Because a student could pass three courses with a “D” and flunk the fourth, the new minimum GPA became 0.75.

Few school systems – and no others in the same athletic conferences as Whiteville – ever raised the minimum.

Superintendent Randall Shaver said that in his discussions, a significant portion of the community would like to see the minimum GPA requirement restored.
Shaver said he was bringing the matter to the board for discussion.

“Do we want the status quo or a higher standard?” Shaver asked. “It’s worthy of your discussion.”

“I agree totally,” said board member Jim DiMuzio, a staunch supporter of raising the standard. “Every time we raise the bar for our students, they answer the call. I’m impressed with our kids. This should not be difficult.”

DiMuzio said that as a teenager, it was the minimum GPA set in his home to play sports that kept his grades up in high school.

DiMuzio made a motion to reinstate the minimum 2.0 GPA and to make it applicable to all extracurricular activities, not just athletics.

Board Chairman Carlton Prince said that not a week goes by that someone doesn’t ask him when the board is going to reinstate the minimum GPA policy.

“I think it’s something the community wants,” he said.

“Mediocrity is not okay,” DiMuzio said. “The state minimum standards should not be our goal. We need to shoot higher.”

Flowers said that a “C” average is difficult for a lot of kids.

“I used to believe that everybody could make a ‘C,’” he said. “There are some kids for whom a ‘C’ will be a miracle. They just do not have it. What if for some of them, their dream is athletics?”

“If their true love is playing ball, they will work harder,” DiMuzio replied. “There are some classes where you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to get a ‘B.’”

Prince said that research has shown that athletes record their highest grades point averages during the semesters their sports are played.

He said the minimum GPA is a problem for just a few athletes.

Prince added that the removal of the requirement three years ago wasn’t productive for the school or for the athletes.

Flowers said that when the policy is written and returned to the board for a vote, he wanted to carefully examine the language.

“Maybe the state knows something we don’t,” Flowers said.

“We owe our kids an education,” DiMuzio said. “We don’t owe them extracurricular activities. ‘They need to be able to read. If they can’t make a 2.0 average then they don’t need to spend four or five hours a day on sports.”

Flowers pointed out that some students have learning disabilities.

Prince replied that students with learning disabilities are able to take courses that cater to those disabilities and that high grades were reachable.

Flowers said that many of the students don’t have the right parents to support their academic needs

“I can promise you it’s just not there at home for them,” he said.

Board member Larry Hewett said that “this issue is very dear to this board and to this community. There’s a lot to look at.”

He said he is concerned with students who attend school solely for athletics.

“We need to do something for those children who score below 2.0,” he said. “I don’t want to completely rule out those children who can’t make 2.0.”

No action was taken on DiMuzio’s motion but the board did give the go-ahead to Shaver to write a policy to look at during the Sept. 10 meeting.

The board, in a 3-2 decision, eliminated the policy in late 2004. The change was done in a single night without notice to the public.

Board members Greg Merritt, Dave Flowers and former board member and chairman at the time, Terry Carroll, voted to eliminate the requirement. Prince and former board member LaDeen Powell voted to keep it.

Powell was particularly displeased with the way the vote came without the public being made aware that the change was coming.

Later, the board adopted a new rule that requires a first reading on any policy or policy change with 30 days before a second reading and vote.

At the start of Monday night’s meeting, Whiteville resident Mark Smith spoke on behalf of the 2.0 GPA requirement.

“This issue is of greatest importance to the community and the school system,” Smith said. “This policy worked fine for many, many years”

“Before 2005, the Whiteville City Schools was one of the few systems in North Carolina to have this requirement,” he said. “Now, we only require mediocrity.”
He asked the board to consider a minimum GPA for all extracurricular activities.
He said that things will turn around for the county during the next decade and that the students need to be prepared for it.

“We need to demand better than mediocrity for these kids,” he said. “I have a great deal of confidence that if challenged, they will respond.”