Can You Say CYA?
The latest story in the long-running saga that is the Athletics Department at Garfield continues on at the Times.
I'm not going to review all the latest details because I think this is absolutely ridiculous and why we in the U.S. and in our high schools and colleges allow TOO MUCH emphasis on sports. I absolutely believe sports helps keep many kids interested in school and focused (don't get a good grade, no participation). But time and again we see "star" athletes protected. That the Athletic Director and possibly the principal were jumping through hoops to protect this player is wrong.
Someone is NOT telling the truth.
That Garfield was severely overcrowded and yet somehow there was room for a 3-person class with a sub teacher is disgraceful and there is NO excuse for it in these hard fiscal times.
I'm sure the student will sail into UW and be a big basketball star and still can't string two sentence of basic Spanish together. This is not what education should be.
I note this comes one day after the district announced that FIVE Garfield students are National Merit Scholars. This is out of 15,000 students eligible and 1500 awards made. They are:
I'm not going to review all the latest details because I think this is absolutely ridiculous and why we in the U.S. and in our high schools and colleges allow TOO MUCH emphasis on sports. I absolutely believe sports helps keep many kids interested in school and focused (don't get a good grade, no participation). But time and again we see "star" athletes protected. That the Athletic Director and possibly the principal were jumping through hoops to protect this player is wrong.
Someone is NOT telling the truth.
That Garfield was severely overcrowded and yet somehow there was room for a 3-person class with a sub teacher is disgraceful and there is NO excuse for it in these hard fiscal times.
I'm sure the student will sail into UW and be a big basketball star and still can't string two sentence of basic Spanish together. This is not what education should be.
I note this comes one day after the district announced that FIVE Garfield students are National Merit Scholars. This is out of 15,000 students eligible and 1500 awards made. They are:
- Ben Corwin
- Josh Davids
- Tai Levy
- Lucie Saether
- Emily Shack
Comments
I believe that's the inevitable result when sports *achievement* becomes a school focus. When school is supposed to be about academics, but another outside focus (star athletes) are being cultivated, the central purpose of the school (education) gets skewed in the name of other goals. Elite sports should be practiced outside of school. Schools can still have sports, but only in the central service of the academic goals.
SolvayGirl
We decry our educational system and yet nowhere else in the world is money and resources poured into high school sports. Why are we doing worse than other countries? Gee, could it be that we subtly tell the kids that somethings ARE more important than academics.
I love when we bemoan our education system and then turn a blind eye to flaws in the system. What does it say about us as a country when we celebrate athletes more than scholars?
In soccer, for example, the higher level play is on the club teams and select teams rather than on the school teams. This may also be true for volleyball, swimming, rowing, tennis, and some other sports as well.
How hard would it be for baseball, softball, basketball and football leagues - outside of schools - to develop and become the competitive focus while school teams become the place for intramural competition and students who are on the team for the chance to play rather than at the top levels of competition?
I think we would get a big step forward if the Seattle schools formed their own league separate from the WIAA.
How does this idea strike folks?
What if the school team played the entire roster, only played against other Seattle high schools, and had no opportunity to compete for state championships?
Students would still have the opportunity to play - in fact more students would have the opportunity - but it couldn't really be any student's focus and it certainly wouldn't detract from academics.
This is especially frustrating because Wroten's residence is questionable. As Anonymous notes, it's sad when so many other kids who played by the rules could not get a spot in Garfield.
SolvayGirl
I'm all for it. The problem, though, is that there isn't an out-of-school elite league for basketball and football. is there? Given that, we would be doing a disservice to kids who want to play at elite levels in Seattle. But, I would love to see systems develop that moved elite play out of schools, and left school sports as "no-cut" teams that were evenly matched, with no great incentive for schools to offer special academic support (or, alternatively, offer no support and lie) to elite players.
I do think that kids who want to play elite sports should have an opportunity to do so. I don't want to conflate a general distaste for competitive sports with a distaste for them in the school setting. The problem isn't with sports competition (which people have a right to decide about for themselves -- I've recently become a convert to some of the value of competitive athletics), but with dampening the mission of school (to educate) with other goals.
And, for those who point out that sports/team play is educational, I agree. But, overly-competitive sports are tracking at their worst. To the extent that team sports offer educational benefits they shouldn't be limited to a select few who make the cut.
(PS: I think that forcing Garfield to opt out of intermural athletics for the next five years or so would be a reasonable response to this travesty. Also think that the principal clearly has complicity and should not be given a free ride).
They have fired the coach/perpetrators, which would seem to me to the the appropriate response. As much as I don't want to see leadership churn, if the fault also lies with the principal, then maybe he leaves (or is placed on probation, or his salary is docked, or whatever). But I think punishing future years of kids for the past failings of adults is flat wrong. I hate that it is done to college kids. I hate even MORE the idea of doing it to 14 and 15 year old boys and girls.
One (in response to Charlie's comments) - COMPETITIVE sports at any level are beneficial in my opinion. Not competing for a championship would water that down so much it wouldn't be fun to play. I still cringe at the fact we don't keep score at certain levels so we don't "damage" their self esteem. Guess what, all the kids know the score at the end, so far I'm not seeing any adverse effects. Competitive sports teach a lot that is true in life and are valuable for many people. Certainly they are an idol for many and this creates major issues but let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
Two - The AD at Garfield is getting a raw deal and is known for helping kids succeed outside of sports. He will get his open hearing and when that happens the truth come out. He has nothing to hide and I believe will be vindicated.
NEDAD
And -- one more thing (in response to anonymous at 8:52) -- Tony Wroten lived, and attended, Seattle schools for years -- at least middle school, and I don't know where he went before that. When his parents moved to Renton, they arranged for him to continue to live in the CD (with his grandmother, maybe?). Eventually, I think they (or the grandmother) rented a house near Garfield. The problem (if I recall correctly, is that the School sent a private investigator to sit outside and monitor whether the "deal" was "real" -- whether he really lived there, and concluded he was not there enough of the time (whatever that means). A settlement was reached where, as I understand it, the Wrotens agreed to live up to the substance of the arrangement, if he wanted to stay enrolled at GHS.
I am not saying it is ok for parents and families to "game" the system by being less than honest about where they live. But, it has never been illegal to rent an apartment or house to gain access to better schools. I grew up with kids whose parents had moved out of state, and left their children behind, living with friends, so as not to disrupt their educations. And particularly here -- where he has ALWAYS gone to Seattle schools, I see no "shame" in his having a seat at Garfield. Given that he is an attendance area kid, and they are taking all comers, his presence there does not deny anyone else a seat.
Anyonymous said, "Maybe the 'district' should reopen the case of where Tony Wroten really lives; Renton."
When/if they should do that, they should also investigate the students whose families live on the Eastside, yet whose parents can afford a second home/or rent an apartment in the Garfield attendance area that are not athletes but seek the educational opportunities at Garfield (Marine Biology and the trips, just to name one).
The student should have known better sure, but the adult(s) who were the enablers are far worst! And the fact that an Athletic Director (nice guy or not) would sign off on giving a bogus grade for doing next to no work should have been fired.
While people want to blame the principal, I'd like to hear how the princpal is supposed to monitor EVERY adult who makes decisions such as the Athletic Director did in a building. While they might try to, then people would say they were micromanaging.
There are schools with princpals who themselves are corrupt in Seattle. Garfield is not one of them.
NEDAD
Who is in charge of our public servants? Is there ANY supervision downtown or are we pi**ing away supervision money on academic "coaches."
Ironic...
If the public really knew what goes on in this district, levies would fail like pachinko spheres falling into the center column.
Angry Citizen Zulu
But honestly, I think its the fancy uniforms and gear that I can't stomach for some reason. Seeing 10 year old kids dressed up like players from the European Football (soccer) League with fancy bags, jackets and a different outfit for every scrimmage or match just doesn't sit well with me.
Just me perhaps, but seems so excessive on every level.
-still fishy
Compare that to our local HS school baseball team, which cost $50 - $75 per player, per season, including yellow bus transportation to all away games. And there are scholarships for all who need it.
The schools that my kids attend have both JV and V teams. The JV teams are all no cut, and less competitive, so there is something for everyone. Many parents I know REQUIRE their kids to play a sport, to keep them busy after school, so they are not just hanging out. The fact is that the overwhelming majority of kids that play HS sports have absolutely no intention of playing at the college or pro level after HS at all. They are playing because they like competition, for the social experience, for exorcise, or because a parent requires them to.
And to make the argument that we need to eliminate sports and focus on academics, well then I guess we'd also have to think about cutting school plays, musicals, band concerts, after school clubs, PE, and community service too. How would that look?
If there is a bad apple coach, address his/her behavior, and remove them when necessary - but don't penalize the kids. In this time of an obesity and diabetes epidemic, we should be absolutely ecstatic that we still have PE and sports in our district.
Either remove the offending coach/adminstrator and incur no sanctions
or
incur sanctions.
-best for kids
The Athletic Director has no authority to hire a Sub,devise a class schedule that comes from the instruction of the Principal alone.
There are many teachers teaching on carts or running between rooms all day in Garfield. Very few rooms are vacant at any time so the need for part time subs to take some of the class loads is valid and this particular sub did teach 2 other classes.
The Principal, Ted Howard, has the ultimate and final decision on how to manage the class schedules and curriculum.
You prefer having a principal of an SPS school spend money on a sub, to teach 3 boys on their own, so that SPS can field a state champion basketball team?
I'm not advocating for getting rid of HS sports; just for treating it like classes, and not subsidized elite sports in a school setting.
(zb)
i was responding to charlie's question about whether school sports should go away and let club or elite sports take over. i made no comment on the scandal at garfield, or on school sports for that matter.
Now that you brought it up, however, I think, both scenarios are elitist and not in the best interest of the kids.
And to directly answer Charlie's question, club sports (at least as I've seen them played) would not be an appropriate replacement for sports in middle or high school.
Sports, with the costs, the time, the need to constantly pour money into the fields (that's one thing that ALWAYS gets done on BTA), are a very different animal than other after school activities.
Also, community service is a graduation requirement.
SPS is lax on many athletic policies. With a number of High schools having had issues with their athletic programs RB, FHS, Sealth, in addition to FHS. FHS had the largest grade changing scandal yet principal Wiley remained.
SPS needs to implement stronger policies for athletes regarding academics and drug and alcohol use and enforce them no holds barred.
Yup, very much so, to some kids.
Yup, very much so, to some kids.
I would agree.
They all involve team effort- practice & talent.
One is not more academic in nature- despite perception of "high-brow- vs low-brow".
Our state also requires PE credits for graduation- not so music or drama.
Parent.