If a policy revision regarding academic eligibility for extra-curricular and co-curricular activities is approved by Sharpsville school directors, students could be sidelined from playing sports, attending prom or participating in the school play beginning next school year.

The school board will hear a first reading of the revised policy at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Seventh Street School. Two more votes -- a second reading and then final approval -- are necessary before the revision becomes policy.

"It's a very positive step for the district," school Director Donna Murray said Monday. "And if we do not adopt this revision and stay with the same old same old, we're not asking the students to reach at all. ... This is what we're striving to do in putting education and academics first."

The district's current policy, which has been in place for about five years, allows students to compete or participate as long they're passing four classes. That policy mirrors standards used by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, the governing body of high school and middle school sports in the Commonwealth.

The new policy would send students to the bench if they're failing two major core classes, such as math and science, or if they're failing classes equaling two combined credits. For example, a physical education class counts as only a half-credit. A similar two-F policy was in place in the district prior to the most recent revision in 1998.

"The concept of the PIAA standards are not adequate," Mrs. Murray said. "This is the system we're currently under and as far as I'm concerned they're substandard."

Another significant change would be that prom and the school play would no longer be exempt from eligibility requirements. The existing policy allows students to participate in both events regardless of their academic standing.

The only exempt activities, Superintendent Dr. Derry L. Stufft said recently, would be those that a student must participate in for a grade.

Under the revised policy, all students' grades will be checked each Friday. And if any student isn't meeting the academic minimum standard, then he or she must sit out one week of their respective activity.

"I feel we need to place academics first," Mrs. Murray said. "To me, that's the primary function of a public school system. If we don't ask these kids to do their best, to challenge them to do their best, then we're failing."

School directors were mixed in their opinions on the issue during a discussion last week. Some said the policy might be interpreted as a punishment specifically aimed at athletes and others said it wouldn't even get to the heart of academic problems in the district.

"We are absolutely not trying to punish athletes," Mrs. Murray said. "We're asking all of our students to measure up and it has nothing to do with punishing or discriminating. As far as I'm concerned, the revision is very fair. We are asking all the students to reach a little higher and to go a little further. We're not trying to single out any one group."

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Jeff Greenburg at:
jgreenburg@sharonherald.com