Definitions

“Extracurricular activities'' are defined as: any school sponsored program where students from one or more schools meet, work, perform, practice under supervision outside of regular class time, or are competing for the purpose of receiving an award, rating, recognition, or criticism, or qualification for additional competition. Examples include, but are not limited to, inter/intrascholastic athletics, cheerleading, band, choral, math, or science competitions, field trips, and club activities.

“Field Trips” are when individual students or groups of students are invited to programs or events when there is no competition and the students are not interacting with each other for the purpose of planning, qualifying, or arranging for future programs or for the purpose of receiving recognition.

“Interscholastic Activities” means athletic or non-athletic/academic activities where students compete on a school vs. school basis.

“Intrascholastic Activities” means athletic or non-athletic/academic activities where students compete with students from within the same school.

Extracurricular Eligibility

The Board believes in providing opportunities for students to participate in extracurricular activities that can help enrich the student’s educational experience. At the same time, the Board believes that a student’s participation in extracurricular activities cannot come at the expense of his/her classroom academic achievement. Interruptions of instructional time in the classroom are to be minimal and absences from class to participate in extracurricular activities shall not exceed one per week per extracurricular activity (tournaments or other similar events excepted with approval of the principal. All students are eligible for extracurricular activities unless specifically denied eligibility on the basis of criteria outlined in this policy.

A student may lose his/her eligibility to participate in extracurricular activities when, in the opinion of the school’s administration, the student’s participation in such an activity may adversely jeopardize his/her academic achievement. Students may also be denied permission to participate in extracurricular activities as a consequence of disciplinary action taken by the administration for inappropriate behavior.

Any student who refuses to sit for a State-wide assessment or attempts to boycott a State-wide assessment by failing to put forth a good faith effort on the assessment as determined by the assessment administrator/proctor, or whose parents do not send their student to school on the dates the assessments are administered or scheduled as make-up days shall not be permitted to participate in any non-curriculum related extracurricular activity. The student shall remain ineligible to participate until the student takes the same or a following State-wide assessment, as applicable. The superintendent or designee may waive this paragraph's provisions when the student’s failure was due to exceptional or extraordinary circumstances. Students falling under the provisions of this paragraph shall be permitted to attend curriculum related field trips occurring during the school day.

A student who enrolls in the district and meets the definition of “eligible child” in Policy 4.2—ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS shall be eligible to try-out for an extracurricular activity regardless of the date the student enrolls in the District so long as the student meets all other eligibility requirements and the extracurricular activity is still ongoing.

No student shall be required to pay for individual or group instruction in order to participate in an extracurricular activity.

A student and the parent or legal guardian of the student shall sign and return an acknowledgement of receipt and review of an information sheet regarding signs and symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest before the student may participate in an athletic activity and before each school year the student participates in an athletic activity.