Re “An Evening of Disappointing Results”
On Being
I can relate to letter-writer Debbie Hamme’s unresolved feeling in this latest matter regarding Maya Cohn and the girls soccer team at Culver City High School.
It has been six years since my daughter was put through the same emotional wringer by the Athletic Dept., due to its lack of a consistent School District policy regarding the status of other outside educational activities, most notably the YMCA’s Youth and Government program.
Self-Committed
But this is not the case of a senior student/athlete openly defying a coach’s long-standing rule. The student/athlete made her commitment years ago, as a sophomore, to play a high school sport and to join Youth and Government (Y & G) so as not to miss out on the unique Y & G experience, supporting the state standards-based educational opportunity not yet offered by the District.
Ch-Ch-Change
When soccer Coach Scott Mair, community member and parent, put his new team policy in place, did he have this student/athlete’s outside educational interests in mind or his team’s best interest? I think it would be safe to say, as a coach, he would have his team’s best interest in his mind and not that of a single player.
It was the coach who changed the rules on his third-year varsity player and knowingly put her long-held commitment to Y & G in direct conflict with his new team policy; not the other way round.
This is not about a single student, but a growing trend on the high school campus. The School Board chose to disregard the growing popularity of Y & G on the high school campus and the possibility of further conflict.
Myopic View
There have been countless students affected by the continuing lack of a school policy regarding the status of Y & G and other off-campus activities. But, the Board chose to look at this incident narrowly. And so, they disregarded all the anguish suffered by past student/athletes in living thorough such conflicts.
Consistent About Inconsistencies
The consistency chosen by this Board — not by an official vote, but by consensus — is to have the District consistently notify all students at the beginning of each school year of the individual inconsistencies of the Athletic Dept. coaching staff’s decisions regarding the status of extracurricular activities, the most notable being Y & G.
Just like the Surgeon General’s warning about cigarette smoking, the Board’s warning to our student/athletes could simply read:
WARNING: Enrollment in Youth and Government could be hazardous to your varsity career.
Mr. Laase may be contacted at gmlaase@aol.com
