DATE: Monday, September 8, 1997             TAG: 9709080031

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NANCY YOUNG, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   70 lines

CHESAPEAKE TO DEBATE 2.0 GPA POLICY AGAIN PUBLIC, STUDENTS APPEAR EVENLY SPLIT ON THE ISSUE.

Well, students should have at least a C average anyway - particularly if they want to participate in extracurricular activities.

That was the consensus of some Indian River High School students as they waited for their rides home after band practice Thursday. At issue: whether the administration's proposal to require a minimum 2.0 grade point average for participation in athletics and other extracurricular activities is a good idea. The School Board will conduct a public hearing on the issue today.

``That's not that hard - if they'd work instead of playing around,'' said Christina Jones, a junior who is a member of the girls basketball team and captain of the band.

The proposal, as it stands, would require all students who take part in Virginia High School League activities - including sports, cheerleading and the school newspaper - tomaintain at least a 2.0 grade point average. The possibility of including non-VHSL activities - like band - is being studied.

If the policy had been implemented last year, 21 percent of the city's athletes would have been disqualified. Hardest hit would have been the football program, which had 45 percent of its players earning below a 2.0 average.

This is the second public hearing on the proposal. At the first in August, only two people spoke - both were against the proposal, citing its possible detrimental effects on children who are at risk of dropping out.

``I would hope that more people would come out and voice their opinion on Monday,'' School Board member Thomas L. Mercer Sr. said.

Mercer said that when he has gone to sporting events, parents have approached him to express their concerns about the proposal. He said the sentiment seems to be about even between people who are for and against it.

``There's a concern on the one side that all students should have the opportunity to excel in something and that may not be academics. It may be that sports keeps them in school,'' Mercer said. ``On the other side there's the question of what are we in this business for? It's education and calling people to higher standards. Should we not be asking all students, including athletes, to (meet) a higher standard?''

The committee that drew up the proposal said the students it heard from were about evenly split on the proposal, said James D. Rayfield, director of secondary curriculum and instruction and chairman of the committee.

The board is expected to make a decision on the policy later this fall. If it is approved, voluntary after-school study halls would be implemented shortly thereafter, Rayfield said. The study halls would become mandatory in the spring semester for students who had less than a 2.0 average. The minimum 2.0 requirement would take effect in the fall of 1998.

Chesapeake is the only South Hampton Roads district that has not passed a minimum-grade-point-average policy. Suffolk began requiring a minimum GPA in 1991, and Portsmouth in 1994. Virginia Beach's policy went into effect this fall, and Norfolk's is scheduled for the fall of 1998.

Rayfield said the committee asked for input from the other districts, particularly Suffolk and Portsmouth. He said their experiences were that athletic teams were hard hit the first year but regained their numbers in the second year, and that high school dropout rates for those districts have not gone up. He said that was typical of what national research shows.

``It was successful as long as a support system was in place,'' said Rayfield.

But what might be right for other districts is not necessarily right for Chesapeake, said Mercer.

``Just because everybody else has done it in Tidewater doesn't make it legitimate for us,'' he said, adding that he has yet to decide the issue for himself and is hoping to hear more from the community. ``This will be one of the most difficult decisions I've had to make.''

The public hearing will take place at the start of the School Board's regular meeting. Those wishing to speak before the board should call 547-1047. KEYWORDS: EDUCATION CHESAPEAKE SCHOOLS

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