This is the fifth of several feature articles we are publishing which were written by Boothbay Region High School’s AP Language students. According to BRHS AP Language teacher Mark Gorey, the articles are a different incarnation of their Champions of Change proposals. One of the requirements for this assignment was to cite research sources.

A student at Boothbay Region High School, I am here to speak for the student body. The extracurricular-eligibility policy has changed a lot over the past few years, but it should be changed one more time to benefit the students academically. The policy currently reads, “Eligibility is on a week-to-week basis and reported to the main office on Friday. Any student that is failing more than one class will be ineligible for the week. Eligibility runs from Monday to Monday.” Although a good amount of students can pass five of their six classes and are allowed to fail one to participate in sports or other extracurriculars, Boothbay students need more of a challenge because our passing grade is already low at a 60, and we can also fail a class.

In many Maine high schools, students are not allowed to fail any classes, like Telstar High School: “Grades are monitored by the athletic director every two weeks. A student must maintain a passing grade in every course in which he or she is enrolled.” They have 192 students attending high school, a student population very close to Boothbay’s current enrollment and they are held to a higher standard, which is what BRHS should be doing for the students here.

Closer to us, Lincoln County schools, including Wiscasset, Lincoln Academy and Medomak High School, all require students to pass all of their classes they are enrolled in at the grade checks, which are usually at the end of the quarters or every two weeks.

If we were to adopt a policy like this, our principal Daniel Welch says, “I think we would need to establish some clear guidelines around more uniform assessment practices in each classroom.”For example, there is a clear difference between a student who has multiple assignments in the gradebook and is failing because he hasn’t completed any of them and then a student who has two assignments in the gradebook for half the quarter and has put in the effort, but is failing because there are only two assignments.

So there needs to be a guideline for teachers to have enough assignments in the gradebook. All high schools in Lincoln County except Boothbay have a no failure policy and it’s about time we figure out new guidelines and put one back in use again!

In a survey sent out to the student body, 85 students answered and that is about half of the students attending high school here. “Do your extracurricular activities motivate you to improve your grades, if you are failing a class, or to keep your grades above failing?”, about 50% of the students answered with a 5 or “strongly agree.”

Matt Brewer, a math teacher and a coach of two sports at Boothbay, says “I don’t think you should fail any classes.” Students generally feel more motivated to keep their grades up when they are participating in a sport or club that they enjoy. “Allowing students to fail one class, they might totally give up on that one class as long as they are in good standing with the other ones.”

At BRHS, teachers look to help students succeed and push themselves to do what they love and what they are good at. According to Boothbay’s school website and staff list, our teacher to student ratio is about 1:6. Any teacher in our school is willing to help students succeed, the students just need to put in the time and speak up if they need help.

Our athletic director Allan Crocker often finds himself going back and forth between the no-failure policy and the current policy because he just wants “the best policy possible.” He also believes that, “there isn’t any perfect eligibility policy.” The eligibility policy has often changed based on the number of classes the BRHS students are required to take, but he suggests that a, “habits of work and habits of mind” policy could be more effective. If a student is showing up to classes, putting in effort to do their work, and not causing havoc around the school, then they should get to participate in extracurricular activities, but Mr. Crocker thinks that the guidelines for a policy like this would be hard to create and control.

A low number of participating athletes is thought to be a problem for a policy that doesn’t allow a student to fail a class, but Allan Crocker doesn’t think so: “I didn’t have any more students ineligible then (policy with failing no classes), than I do now (current policy).” I know from playing on sports teams here at Boothbay that my teammates are more motivated than ever to keep their grades up when they are participating on a sports team because they are doing something they love. Coaches and teammates are always willing to help an athlete with their grades if they need it.

I believe that the students at Boothbay Region High School should be held to a higher standard even if they don’t participate in extracurricular activities. Students should have to pass all of their classes, no matter how many they have because they should know more than 60% of the material they learned in a class.

After looking into the policy and talking with faculty, I believe we should change to a no-pass, no-play policy, have an eligibility check every three weeks, have a two week grace period (only the first time they fail a class), and make sure that students cannot fail a class if there are only one or two grades in the grade book. If students at Boothbay Region High School have the time to participate in extracurricular activities, then they have the time to earn a passing grade in all of their academic courses. The striving student athletes here have had a “no-fail” policy in the past and are now looking for the CSD school committee to help reimplement it in the Boothbay school system.

Works Cited

ATHLETIC HANDBOOK Medomak Valley High School Athletic Philosophy. (n.d.). Retrieved June 3, 2019, from https://www.msad40.org/files/ATHLETIC_HANDBOOK.pdf

Boothbay Region High School Student Handbook 2018-2019. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2019, from https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/223554/The_KEEL_2018-2019_Updated_.pdf

Crocker, Allan. Athletic Director. Interview. May 20, 2019.

LINCOLN ACADEMY Resident Student Handbook 2018-2019. (n.d.). Retrieved June 3, 2019, from https://www.lincolnacademy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Residental-Life-Student-Handbook-2018-2019-2.pdf

Matthew Brewer. Math Teacher and Sports Coach. Interview. May 21, 2019.

Rankings, N. (n.d.). The Student Body at Telstar High School in Bethel, ME. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/maine/districts/rsu-44msad-44/telstar-high-school-8915/student-body

Telstar High School Student/Parent Handbook 2018/19. (n.d.). Retrieved May 28, 2019, from https://ths.sad44.org/pdf/Telstar_High_School_Student_Handbook_2018-2019.pdf

Welch, Dan. Principal of Boothbay Region High School. Email Interview. June 4, 2019.

WMHS Student Handbook 2017-18 for print/PDF. (n.d.). Retrieved June 3, 2019, from https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HvYEHfhqkCCFVObcyfpgQUCz2f4Nk0uZXFy8J5Jd6KQ/edit