Re “After a Summit Meeting, Maya Cohn Case Is at a Standstill”
First, we need to take the personalities out of the issue of whether Culver City High School senior Maya Cohn should be allowed to participate on the girls soccer team while also committed to the after-school Youth and Government program. This is not about one situation, one player, one coach, one sport, or even about one school-sponsored program.
There will be those who see the School Board as being eager beavers, ready to do something.
They may try and paint this as the School District trying to micro-manage the Culver High coaching staff.
Or maybe as an issue of the Board meddling where it doesn’t belong.
Or as the Board trying to strip away a sacred part of coaching’s unwritten, unquestioned authority over a team.
This Is No Time for Change
Having the high school Athletic Dept. back up their coaches’ point of view should come as no surprise. It would have been a surprise had the Athletic Dept not supported one of its own.
The Athletic Dept wants things to remain unchanged. It is afraid that if this self-perceived cut in coaching authority happens, what will be next?
It believes that if there is no first cut, then there can be no second, third or fourth cut in its coaches’ authority. They would prefer the Board maintain a hands-off approach.
But, our State legislature already addressed the matter of Youth and Government in 2008. In the Education Code, Section 48205 (a) 7, our elected representatives decided to include, by definition, the attendance of Youth and Government to the already justifiable reasons for a student’s absence from school. Among other reasons were attending a funeral and a doctor’s appointment.
Just as no coach should ever question a player’s “commitment to the team” for attending a relative’s funeral service, the state has said that Y & G participation is now covered in the same category of excusable absences as funeral attendance. In addition, with a parent’s written request and the school principal’s signed approval, the District would be eligible to receive much-needed, additional ADA funding.
The Key Is More Dollars
Much more is at stake here than just the appearance of our coaches’ perceived loss of some of their sacred authority over their teams.
The state legislature is asking the Board to establish its own uniform standards so that our District can receive the additional state funding .
With about 80 CCHS students enrolled in the Culver-Palms YMCA’s Y & G program and the state offering about $30 ADA, the district could receive an additional $2,400 a day in ADA funding for these excused absences with a possibility of around $24,000 maximum. In giving the high school principal directions in approving these newly-excused absences, the Board could decide whether the District will receive these much-needed funds.
The School Board’s job is to weigh the School District's need for this extra state funding against the high school coaches’ self-perceived loss, if any, to their unwritten right to modify a team’s rules of participation as they please.
Directing the high school principal to sign off for all the Y & G attendees would not infringe upon or diminish a coach’s authority over a team, either on or off the playing or practice field. It would, finally, clarify for all involved — the student/athletes, their parents and the coaches — that a student/athlete's earlier commitment to a state-sponsored, state-recognized program, like Y & G, would be accepted by all our high school’s coaches.
I think the School District could really use that extra money now.
Don't you?
With the passage of Measure EE, the parcel tax, last year, didn’t the School Board ask local parcel owners to pay $8 a month so we could continue our drive for Education Excellence? I think this extra ADA funding could definitely help out. Every little bit does, right?
Something needs to be done.
This kind of conflict with after-school sports has happened many times before.
It will continue to occur.
If nothing is done now, it will only get worse. Culver High students’ participation in the Y & G program is growing. There's even been a Y & G conflict in the AVPA (Academy of Visual and Performing Arts) program at Culver High.
What's next, mock trial?
Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMlaase@aol.com
