Virginia School Board Mulls 8th Graders Playing High School Sports

http://www.insidenova.com/sports/article_3d4f9640-4474-11e2-b885-001a4bcf6878.html

Brentsville school board representative Gilbert A. Trenum wants eighth graders to be able to play high school sports.

While the Virginia High School League allows it, there are a host of challenges to make this a reality in Prince William County. There are also several Northern Virginia school districts that either don’t have middle schools sports or they do not allow their eighth graders to play for a high school team.

During the Nov. 20 school board meeting, Prince William County supervisor of Health, Physical Education, driver education, JROTC, and athletics Fred Milbert presented the pros and cons of allowing eighth graders to play on either the junior varsity or freshman teams. As a result, the board tasked the school’s central office to come up with a list of requirements and policies to be considered at a future meeting.

The board vote was 5 to 3 in favor of further study with Lisa Bell-Neabsco, Denita Ramirez-Woodbridge and Lillie G. Jessie-Occoquan voting against it.

One of the reasons Trenum would like to see this change take place is to promote a connection between feeder school and high school in hopes to dissuade transfers. Despite where they live, many high school athletes and non-athletes alike are able to enroll in or transfer to other schools in Prince William because of the district’s academic specialty programs like International Baccalaureate and Information Technology.

Virginia School Board Mulls 8th Graders Playing High School Sports

InsideNova.com

http://www.insidenova.com/sports/article_3d4f9640-4474-11e2-b885-001a4bcf6878.html

Brentsville school board representative Gilbert A. Trenum wants eighth graders to be able to play high school sports.

While the Virginia High School League allows it, there are a host of challenges to make this a reality in Prince William County. There are also several Northern Virginia school districts that either don’t have middle schools sports or they do not allow their eighth graders to play for a high school team.

During the Nov. 20 school board meeting, Prince William County supervisor of Health, Physical Education, driver education, JROTC, and athletics Fred Milbert presented the pros and cons of allowing eighth graders to play on either the junior varsity or freshman teams. As a result, the board tasked the school’s central office to come up with a list of requirements and policies to be considered at a future meeting.

The board vote was 5 to 3 in favor of further study with Lisa Bell-Neabsco, Denita Ramirez-Woodbridge and Lillie G. Jessie-Occoquan voting against it.

One of the reasons Trenum would like to see this change take place is to promote a connection between feeder school and high school in hopes to dissuade transfers. Despite where they live, many high school athletes and non-athletes alike are able to enroll in or transfer to other schools in Prince William because of the district’s academic specialty programs like International Baccalaureate and Information Technology.

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