Students in Macon County Schools can now participate in sports at schools other than their own following a decision by the Macon County Board of Education on Dec. 13.
Franklin High School Principal Mickey Noe, Union Academy principal Diane Cotton and Macon Early College principal Mark Sutton all made a request that the board revise Policy Code 3620 A2 concerning additional requirements for interscholastic athletics participation. This verbiage mandates that a student be enrolled at a particular school to play on that school’s athletic teams. However, this leaves students at schools that have limited or nonexistent athletic opportunities, like MEC and Union, without a place to play.
“To be eligible for interscholastic athletics participation, students shall be enrolled in Macon County Schools at a school offering a program of interscholastic athletics for a minimum of fifty percent (50%) of the school day,” reads the policy. The proposal was to strike the words “at a school offering a program of interscholastic athletics”.
Ironically, this aspect of the policy was put in place at the request of a former MEC principal – Todd Gibbs, Macon County Schools’ current personnel director. The idea at the time was that participating on sports teams at a different school than the student’s own would be too demanding of the student’s time and interfere with both their academics and their athletics. Superintendent Chris Baldwin said that, for some students, switching enrollment would actually be the easier path.
“We’ve actually had that happen back when I was principal at Nantahala,” Baldwin said. “Practically, it would be very difficult for a student to attend school at Nantahala, complete the coursework and then drive down the mountain and attend practice in the same school day.”
However, the board members agreed that the rule wasn’t really helping students. Many of them jump through a lot of hoops to play sports at the school of their choice, so the board unanimously agreed to just make things simpler for them.
“My husband attended Franklin High School to play football for part of the school year and then went back up the mountain,” board member Hilary Wilkes said. “I know that that happens every now and then.”
The Macon County Board of Education will meet again on Monday, Jan. 24 at 6 p.m. in the boardroom at the Macon County Schools Central Office.