Two-sport athletes at WHS?

The Wahkiakum School Board met the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and considered allowing student athletes to participate in two sports concurrently.

Board members Tony Boyce and Tina Schubert were absent; vice-chairperson Mike Quigley conducted the board’s monthly meeting.

Superintendent Bob Garrett said that local resident Lamar Blix asked the district to allow students to participate in two sports and that the board could allow the practice if desired.

Garrett said this question has come up at least once in past years.

Director Michelle Budd said her family had considered the possibility recently, but decided that it wasn’t possible to be fair to coaches and teammates.

“We’ve gone over and over this in our house,” Budd said.

Garrett brought the issue to the board for consideration, along with written comments from Athletic Director Marc Niemeyer and other coaches and staff.

Considerations discussed included the numbers of practices students must participate in so they can compete, scheduling conflicts between each sport, and athletes being spread too thin.

Garrett said other districts in and out of state do allow dual athletes.

Director Lee Tischer said that he would like to see a higher GPA for students who participated in two sports.

The board discussed the possibility of a dual athlete participating in baseball and track.

Students must participate in 10 track practices to be able to compete. In order to accommodate a dual athlete’s need to fulfill the practice requirement, coaches could choose to hold practices before school or at other times as needed.

“The coach would have to allocate twice as much time for practice,” Garrett said.

Quigley said, “I like concept. I don’t see how it could work.”

Principal Theresa Libby discussed the numbers of times that baseball games were cancelled because of weather, observing that it could be difficult to avoid a conflict.

Niemeyer wrote that if an athlete had a competition for two sports on the same day, and chose to do an individual event rather than a team event, it would cause “chaos amongst players, coaches and parents.”

Coach Matt Stacey wrote, “I have built this (wrestling) team on desire. From the beginning we have made it clear that if you’re not sure that you want to be here, this probably isn’t the place for you.”

“The goal is to keep them active,” Quigley said, “but it’s education first and sports second.”

The school board will discuss the matter again in December, when absent board members and coaches can have more input.

In other business, the board approved student leader Ashley Silva to represent the district on the Wahkiakum Community Network.

The district approved a temporary construction access easement request from the Town of Cathlamet for the new sewer plant. The town agreed to create a walking trail for students going into the farm forest during construction.

Libby announced she would hold a roundtable discussion on January 26, when parents can discuss cyber-bullying, Internet safety and sexting with Charlotte House staff Susan Schillios and Renae Hauff.

Each child in kindergarten through third grade received a book from Reading Is Fundamental on November 14. The program is funded by United Way and coordinated by Cathlamet resident Mary Thomas.

High school principal Dan Casler reported that donkey ball earned about $1,178 to fund coach’s stipends.

Casler said the student body leaders are helping plan a “shelter-in-place” drill which will address an emergency situation during which students would be confined to school for six hours. State law requires annual practice, Casler said.

“The more we talked, we saw how many potential problems there were-- to keep all the kids safe and really do it right,” Casler said.

The school board meets again on December 19.