Specifically, this means that the current policy of requiring students to pass all their classes in order to participate in co-curricular activities will be modified. The reality of that program is that it does nothing to the kids who are already high achievers, who excel academically and participate in a multitude of co-curricular activities. Another reality of that policy is that it lets other students fall off the radar, according to Harwood's Sue Duprat.
She has a different philosophy and that is that if a kid fails a class and is excluded from the Frisbee team, that kid falls off the radar and the school has no way of knowing what happened to that student or why. Some kids have different kinds of learning and Harwood's co-curricular activities are as important in teaching as traditional academics.
Duprat wants these co-curricular activities recognized as valuable learning experiences that give kids the skills, discipline and time management skills they need to function in the real and academic worlds.
The change she is proposing (which school principal Duane Pierson is accepting comment on through January 17,
That way, the struggling student does not just fall off the radar as well as the Frisbee time but actually gets some assistance and does not lose the benefit of the co-curricular activities. A second part of this proposal is a requirement calling on students to accept greater responsibility for their own attendance and behavior in classes.
As Duprat said, "If we value co-curriculars as a means of learning life skills, self-confidence and time management skills, some of us believe we're doing a disservice to students if we exclude kids who may or may not have the wherewithal to avoid failing a class once in a while."
This is a healthy and fresh way to look at an old problem and it is refreshing that the leadership at Harwood is willing to re-examine formerly cast-in-stone tenets of student behaviors to try to figure out what really benefits the most students.
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