Middle schoolers may practice with high school teams

The Wahkiakum School District Board of Directors discussed whether to allow seventh and eighth grade students to practice with the high school baseball, softball and golf teams for the final weeks of the spring season at March’s school board meeting on Tuesday.

Marc Niemeyer, the baseball coach as well as the College and Career Counselor at the high school, was trouble shooting ways to provide younger students with opportunities to learn baseball when he found a WIAA rule that allows middle school students to practice with the high school team.

“I’m not sure how long it has been on the books with WIAA,” Superintendent Bob Garrett said, “but I’ll be a son of a gun, Marc Niemeyer brought to me a rule that actually says if the local school board approves, seventh graders can participate in practices only—they can’t play in any varsity or junior varsity matches—if they don’t have a middle school program in that same sport. In the springtime, we only have middle school track. We have no softball, no baseball, no golf. If the school board is going to be allowing it for baseball, I’m assuming we are going to be open to allowing it for softball or golf.”

The school board has already allowed eighth graders to play on the baseball team to make up for a lack of high school students turning out for the sport.

After much debate about academic standards for eligibility and other details, the board voted unanimously to allow seventh and eighth graders to practice with the high school teams.

“That was painful,” Tina Schubert said.

Mike Wright, the maintenance supervisor of the district, notified the board that the John C. Thomas Middle School had received a score of 82.16 in the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Asset Preservation Program, in order to retain the building in the program. Doing so maintains the district’s eligibility for different grants and funding throughout the state that help with building conditions and upgrades.

“It’s basically a requirement so that the state knows that districts that have received state modernization money or new construction money,” Garrett said, “are keeping their buildings up and not just letting them go. This has been in effect for five years. The requirement is that the maintenance supervisor notifies the school board of the score and the minutes show that the board accepted the score.”

The board voted to accept bids for three vehicles that had been put out for surplus. They lowered the minimum bid for the remaining vehicles, the Suburban and the Thomas school bus and will advertise them again.

The board accepted Jenny Batdorf’s resignation from the position of head coach for the cheerleading squad at the high school.

The next meeting is scheduled for April 21 at 5:30 p.m.