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SCHOOL BOARD TO CHANGE ATHLETIC ELIGIBILITY POLICY…NEXT WEEK

About 100 upset parents, students, and supporters showed up at a special meeting of the Morongo Unified School District Board of Education to let the Board know how they felt about the denial of athletic eligibility to six Twentynine Palms High School football players. Dan Stork was there and reports how the work-study session went…

For the most vocal element in the audience at Joshua Tree Elementary School, the issue was this: Kids were betrayed by adults. Student athletes who had failed an elective course last spring were advised that if they took a different elective during summer school, and passed it, then they could play football. After the boys passed the summer school course, the new principal at Twentynine Palms High School ruled that the advice didn’t match up with written Board of Education policy, and didn’t allow them to play football. A succession of speakers returned to the trust theme: From Nicolette Estrada, the mother of one of the boys affected: “Teach them integrity, honesty, and as you go out into the world in a few short months, that your word is your bond.” From Twentynine Palms High School and summer school teacher Karen Beasley: “The bottom line is, they did what they were told to do.” Board member Ed Will acknowledged that the students had been mis-advised. Board President Chris Proudfoot replied to the demands of Trustee Karalee Hargrove for immediate action, saying that the policy could not legally be revised on the spot, because the special meeting had been publicly noticed as a work-study session. John Cole, a former principal of Twentynine Palms High School and a former Twentynine Palms City Council member and Mayor, advised the Board to fast-track the usual lengthy procedure applied to policy revisions, and implement a probation policy that meets California Interscholastic Federation requirements at its next regular meeting September 17, to take effect then. Cole concluded: “So I say, please, I ask you, take action to get these kids back on the bus, and not under it.” Also lobbying for a probationary program, head football coach Ernest Martinez said, “In America we give kids second chances, and they deserve it.” Despite unhappiness by many in the audience that change isn’t happening soon enough to cover this week’s football game, the Board followed Cole’s advice, and directed staff to come up with a probationary program they could consider at this Tuesday’s meeting.

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