Havre Public Schools allows eighth graders in high school sports

The Havre Public Schools Board of Trustees voted Tuesday evening to allow Havre High School sports teams, excluding football, to recruit eighth graders at the discretion of coaches and the school's athletics director.

The board, after much discussion and public comment, most of it in favor of the change, voted 6-1 to approve the change with Board Chair Tim Scheele voting against it and all other present members voting for it. Board Vice-Chair Christin Hileman was not at the Tuesday meeting.

For the past few months some Havre High School sports team leaders, particularly on the wrestling team, have been pushing the board to allow them to recruit eighth graders to fill empty slots on their roster and be more competitive with similar class A schools.

Proponents have said that most other schools they are competing against allow eighth grade participation and if Havre doesn't follow suit they will not be able to keep up.

At the beginning of the discussion Havre Public Schools Superintendent Brain Gum, who started in the position last month, recommended that the board allow eighth grade participation, but only in cases where a team has empty slots.

Gum said he met with high school and middle school administration teams to discuss the situation, where the state is going and generally get him up to speed.

Based on those conversations, as well as consultation with Havre High School Activities Director Mark Irvin, he said he thinks this is the best option for the schools.

He said each school that has, or is considering making this change is going about it in a slightly different way.

Some are only allowing it for sports that aren't offered at the middle school level for fear of cannibalizing programs while others have voted to allow it with few stipulations, Gum said.

He said he thinks this recommendation will allow teams to fill their needs while making sure that high school students get an opportunity to participate in their own school's sports.

While response to the prospect of allowing eighth grade participation in high school sports was received well by board members, many had reservations about only allowing it in cases where there were open slots that couldn't be filled by high school students.

Trustee Kevin Johnson said he thinks this recommendation is being made with the best of intentions, but he has a problem with placing undue restrictions on coaches who should be trusted to make the right calls for the good of their teams and to know when a younger student is and isn't ready for varsity programs.

In his experience, Johnson said, the strongest school teams are the ones that coordinate and consult with their middle and high school counterparts respectively and between the two of them he thinks they should be trusted to make good decisions.

This sentiment was echoed by Trustee Brittnee' Loch who said restricting the coaches isn't the board's job.

"We hire these coaches to make these kinds of decisions," Loch said.

Between the coaches, athletes and their parents or guardians, she said, she thinks the decisions made can be trusted.

Gum said the intention of the policy isn't to be overly restrictive to coaches or teams, just to address the issue on the basis of need and they can always revisit it later in consultation with those coaches.

Trustee Jacob Ingram said it didn't seem like there was much room for interpretation in the recommended policy.

During the meeting some concerns were raised about the policy, including from Trustee Garrit Ophus, who wondered if it would be possible to have coaches put in requests for eighth grade players if they are needed during the year.

Sports team leadership in the audience pushed back on that idea, saying by that time it will already be too late since they won't have had time to evaluate or develop the player to see if they will fit.

Irvin agreed and said putting a student in the position of being thrown onto a team midway through the year without a chance to train properly is unfair to them and the coaches.

Irvin was also asked how the programs would cover the increased transportation costs, but he said there won't be any as far as he can tell.

He was also asked about eighth graders potentially suffering negative mental health effects of feeling alienated by being on a high school team instead of with their peers.

Irivin said he's spoken to coaches and many schools that allow eighth grade participation and he hasn't heard anything like that.

After the discussion the matter was opened up to public comments, all but one of which was in favor of allowing eighth grade participation.

The one opponent of the policy was former Trustee Todd Hanson, who asked the board if they had even bothered to think about how many students this policy would actually benefit.

Hanson said the policy only helps a handful of students and that is not how the board worked when he was there.

"I think we're catering to a very small group and a very small demographic," he said.

Havre Public Schools Director of Facilities and Transportation Scott Filius, a long-time and highly successful Havre High School head wrestling coach, said in response to Hanson that as many students would benefit from it as benefit from advanced placement chemistry and no one would consider doing away with something like that just because a relatively small number of students use it.

If an eighth grader demonstrates exceptional skill in math and shows they're ready to start learning calculus the school staff are thrilled and do everything possible to facilitate that talent, not limit it.

Filius said he believes implementing this policy will be a painless solution to the problem many sports teams are facing, and allow them to compete with their rivals properly.

"All we're asking for is a level playing field," he said.

Havre High School Band Director Cullen Hinkle said a change like this would really help out his program, too.

He said there are many middle school students whose skill has exceeded the material they are learning and want to be challenged, so he's fully in support of the policy.

Gum clarified that the policy only applies to sports so it would not affect Hinkle's program, but he appreciates his input all the same.

Other proponents said they think the fear of having too many high school students being pushed out of their own programs in favor of eighth graders is unfounded and it's clear that the problems faced by many sports teams are such that this change is necessary.

After public comment, Johnson made a motion to allow eighth grade participation in high school sports at the discretion of the coaches and high school athletics director.

Ingram proposed an amendment to the motion stipulating that individual sports could recruit without restriction, but team sports could do so only in the event that they have slots that couldn't otherwise be filled.

Scheele said he believes this amendment would bring the policy more in line with what team sport coaches who have voiced opposition to the change want, but the amendment was voted down.

Eventually, the board voted 6-1 to adopt the original motion, allowing eighth grade participation in all non-football sports at the discretion of the coaches and athletics director.

The board also approved the submission of an electronic vote on Montana School Boards Association business and was introduced to the new Havre Public Schools Education Foundation Executive Director Krystal Steinmetz by Foundation Board Chair Kyle Leeds.

Scheele said he's very happy to have Steinmetz on board and the trustees look forward to working with her.

During the meeting Gum said he wanted to introduce himself more formally to the new members of the board who weren't there when he was hired earlier this year.

He said this is his 25th year in education, having been a science teacher, a coach, a curriculum director and a principal at middle and high school levels.

He said this is his first time as a superintendent, and he's excited to be on the job and added that the community has made settling in very easy for him and his family.

He said he has an open-door policy and is happy to speak with any member of the board who wants to talk to him.

Gum also talked about a number of upcoming events that he hopes board members will be able to attend if possible.

On Aug. 1 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Sunnyside Intermediate School Gymnasium will be the district's third annual job fair with principals conducting interviews for potential new school staff.

The next day, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Robins Administration Banner Room, he and Assistant Superintendent Brad Moore will be having meetings with the buildings' administration teams on what the coming year will look like, including the implementation of the four-day week and Support Fridays.

He said schedules are being finalized and he's hoping to get them out to the area's parents and guardians in the next week.

Aug. 3, he said, they will be having a new teacher meet-and-greet with orientation soon after as well as the Welcome Back Celebration at the Havre High School Gymnasium from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m.

From Aug. 7 to Aug. 17, he said school staff will be doing professional development, Gum said.

He said he was really happy to see how much professional development the district does, saying it's atypical in a very good way.

He said there will also be meetings with principals and staff Aug. 22 and 23, in preparation for the first day of school Aug. 24.