SAUGUS — The School Committee on Thursday evening opted to table a vote on the proposed student handbook for the Middle-High School, which would, among other changes, raise the requirement for graduating with honors and loosen the standard for athletic eligibility.
The school’s principal, Brendon Sullivan, presented the changes to the committee, explaining that he sought to raise the standard for students graduating with honors from those finishing with a GPA of 3.0 or higher to those finishing with a 3.7 or higher. On the athletic-eligibility front, Sullivan sought to bring the district in line with the existing Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association regulation, which bars students from participating in athletics after they receive failing grades in two classes. Saugus currently prevents students from participating in athletics if they receive just one failing grade.
Student-athletes who do fail two classes would be required to enroll in the high school’s credit-recovery program, and Sullivan stressed that the work students were doing there and in the classroom would have to come before their athletics. More than half of the students in the Class of 2023 cleared the 3.0 benchmark, Sullivan said. He added that the athletic-eligibility change would only affect a handful of students and would not have altered results on the field.
The proposals garnered a mixed reaction from the committee, perhaps best evidenced by the 3-2 vote to table the handbook vote until the committee’s next meeting later this month. Both Committee Chair Vincent Serino and member Ryan Fisher said the two proposals seemed to contradict one another, while Committee member Dennis Gould objected to the higher standard for honors.
“I’m confused by this kind of mixed message,” Serino said. “We want achievement. But then, we’re going to let a student-athlete [fail two classes] … I’m kind of torn on this, to be honest.”
Gould’s objections were twofold, as he expressed concern about the relatively high leap forward from 3.0 to 3.7 — essentially a B average to an A- average — and about the number of students who might feel dejection or be left out under the higher standard.
“I understand what you’re trying to do is drive… academics in this school. We want to make Saugus High [better],” he said. “But I don’t want to penalize students.”
Sullivan acknowledged the relatively drastic nature of the increase, but said he thought it was fair.
He also sought to push back on the notion that raising the standard for honors while amending the standard for student-athletes were somehow in conflict with one another.
“They’re driving at different points,” Sullivan said.
He explaining that he saw raising the standard for honors as a way to push and further incentivize students to succeed, while amending the requirements for athletics would give teachers and other staff an additional incentive to help students on the fringes.
“When the grades start dipping, we’re not talking about whether they’re going to make honors, we’re talking about whether they’re going to accumulate enough credits to move on to the next year, whether they’re going to accumulate enough credits to march across that graduation stage,” he added. “The real prize isn’t the honors tassel… the real prize is the diploma.”
Committee Vice Chairman John Hatch, a former coach of the Saugus High School hockey team and the chair of the Athletic Sub Committee, echoed Sullivan, adding, “We’re not talking about lowering standards we’re talking about saving kids.”
“It’s about actually saving children and keeping them engaged in the school community and giving them that one coach or that one drama teacher who made such a difference in so many lives,” Hatch said. “I am very happy to hear that they’ve gone above and beyond in forcing these kids to become part of the retention program. It’s actually a win on both ends.”
Gould expressed strong support for the athletic-eligibility requirement shift, and wound up voting against tabling the handbook despite his objections to the new standard for honors.
Serino supported the motion to table the vote, saying he didn’t feel prepared to vote on the document and wanted more time to digest the changes.
With the handbook tabled, Gould asked Sullivan and Acting Superintendent of Schools Michael Hashem for information on how many students would have graduated with honors if the standard was raised to 3.5 and if it were raised to 3.7; as well as how many students would have been able to continue playing sports if that requirement was changed.
The committee is likely to meet next on June 29, though no date has been set.
