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There’s a line to tread for a school wanting student-athletes to be better students in order to participate in sports, while at the same time not wanting to take away their opportunity to compete as athletes. 

The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors, along with the district superintendent and junior/senior high school principal, discussed the topic of raising the academic standards for student-athletes at their Aug. 8 board meeting. 

Natalie Kontos, new to the principal position at Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High School, told the board that Associated Student Body representatives were supposed to have presented the case for raising the academic requirements for sports participation at the Monday night meeting, but in their absence, she briefed the board on the topic. 

Kontos said that ASB representatives and coaches at the school were in support of stricter requirements. They currently allow for a student to participate in sports with at least a 2.0 grade point average with no more than one failing grade.

A 2.0 GPA is the equivalent of a student receiving C-average grades in all of their classes.

She said the students originally wanted to raise the standard to athletes needing at least a 3.0 GPA, but they settled on a proposed 2.5 GPA minimum.

The board, along with Kontos and Superintendent Paul Turner, discussed the topic before delaying any decisions on the matter until they heard from the student representatives, possibly at their next meeting scheduled for Aug. 22 at 5:30 p.m.

During their discussion, board members leaned toward giving another year of thought to the topic in order to collect more data.

“Our goal is not to take sports away from anyone or make it so anyone can’t participate,” Kontos said, “it’s to raise the bar for student-athletes, student athletes as leaders.”

Kontos noted that she has spoken with various staff members about the idea and that there is support within the school to help tutor students to meet higher academic standards.

Kontos there were 13 student athletes last year with a GPA lower than 2.5.

Director Rich Black, who worked as the athletic director at LR for six years in the past, wanted more data from the state as well as the district to help make a decision.

“From my experience,” Black said, “there’s always a tension to balance between trying to challenge students to a higher standard on one hand, and on the other hand enabling students to participate in sports. It’s so important, not because of athletics, but because of their ability to participate in the school. 

Black said statistics show that students who participate in athletics or other extracurricular activities do better academically.

“When you jump into something with this, I think you have to have enough experience to say, ‘Where is the right place to draw the line?’ and I would suggest, personally, with new administrators, a new athletic director, we give it a year. I’d like to see statistics for the coming year.”

Director Butch Stanger said the general high school community should be surveyed on the topic before the board reaches a decision. 

Kontos said there was general support among coaches for raising the standards and for the possibility of removing the allowance of one failing grade.

Alternative Learning Environment Principal Mark Herndon noted that he’d seen success in other districts in Washington who removed that allowance of one “F.”

“I think that would be  a good compromise to get rid of the one “F,” Chairman George LaPlace said to the agreement of other board members.

Turner agreed with the idea of waiting a year before making a decision and making sure all support systems are in place for kids who may be affected by a decision.

He noted other changes in the school, including a strict new policy of no smart phones for students, as a reason to not implement another big change for the student body.

The board voted to table the discussion until they heard from the student body.

“We want to hear from the kids,” Black said.