Board changes school policies

The Columbia County school board altered policies Tuesday on extracurricular eligibility rules for middle school pupils and on allowing students to remain in school when they move to other zones.

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To clear up confusion on when seventh-graders can participate in sports or other after-school activities, even though they might have posted failing grades, the school board approved this policy change:

"Students shall be eligible to participate in competitive interscholastic activities for the first grading period following promotion."

A student who fails more than one subject in a semester is not allowed to take part in extracurricular activities the following semester.

However, with the policy change, a seventh-grader can fail two classes in the second semester, but if the first semester grades are good enough to allow the student to pass, the student can take part in sports or other activities in the first semester of eighth grade, explained Superintendent Charles Nagle.

Also on Tuesday, the school board decided to allow high school seniors who move to another county in the state during their second semester to continue to attend school and graduate with their classes.

However, those who move out of the zone or county during the first semester must transfer to a school in the proper zone.

Already the school system allows pupils who move to a different zone inside the county to continue at the school in their initial zone for the remainder of the semester.