BHS unveils new eligibility procedures

By ALEX STRICKLAND / Bigfork Eagle

Bigfork High School Activities Director Shannon Smith and Principal Thom Peck unveiled a new set of procedures at last week's school board meeting to help eliminate confusion and possible oversight concerning student eligibility for activities and athletics.

The plan, which Smith said has been in the works since this spring, includes new paperwork policies and mandatory parent meetings to ensure that both students and their parents are aware of procedures and requirements.

"It all starts in the office," Smith said.

Bigfork School District Superintendent Russ Kinzer said the revamped plan has been a work in progress since spring but also includes some revisions that stem from the death of BHS student Jeff Bowman after an August football practice.

Bowman, in his first football season at Bigfork, collapsed during a conditioning drill on the first day of practice and died at Kalispell Regional Medical Center a week later. Bowman did not have a physical on file at BHS, a violation of Montana High School Association policy. The school was later fined $50 for that infraction.

"Some procedures were revised because of the experience with Jeff Bowman," Kinzer said.

Beginning with this winter's basketball season, Smith said parent meetings are now mandatory and that parents are required to sign in upon arrival so administrators will be able to know who wasn't present. Smith said an activities handbook will then be sent via certified mail to the parents so that officials will know that the handbook was received.

"There is a cost involved that the district is willing to pick up," he said. "It's that important."

Forms documenting athletic physicals and parent permission forms will only be accepted in the main office by Susie Hullett and applicable fees only by Smith or Peck, the rules state. That central point will eliminate the practice of coaches accepting forms on the field and hopefully eliminate confusion in determining which students are eligible, Smith said.

On the field, coaches will be required to take roll at the start of practice and have a list in-hand of eligible students who have turned in all their forms and physical. Late-comers to the season will have to present a "blue form" to the coach to prove that their paperwork has been processed. That form, essentially a receipt given by office staff, shows a coach at a glance that a student has followed the appropriate steps.

As a "triple check," Smith said that coaches in all sports will not be allowed to start practice on the first day of the season until Peck or himself have arrived to provide another safeguard by cross-checking the players at practice with a master list of eligible athletes. Smith said he and Peck will also perform spot checks throughout the first few practices.

"They can't start practice (on the first day) until one of us gives them the high sign," he said.

In another change, students who are not yet eligible for one reason or another will not be allowed to observe practice unless they are in street clothes. Smith said students in any sort of athletic clothing would be sent home so as to avoid confusion for the coaches.

For winter and spring sports, Smith said it wouldn't be as difficult to round up interested kids for meetings and make sure they get the paperwork done since they're in school. The fall, he acknowledged, is a different story.

"It's going to be harder in the fall," he said, due to the fact that kids aren't in school and families are often out of town for stretches of the summer. The jump start program at the start of the summer should help with that, he said. This year was the first that a jump start has been held. The program consists of a parent meeting and a push for students to get physicals done early.

Smith said the retooling of the eligibility procedures began this spring with the jump start activities and was something he said "we knew we'd have to tweak or change."

The set of policies put forth last week is the culmination of that effort, he said.

Kinzer said he felt the new procedures were extensive and if implemented correctly could virtually eliminate oversight. But, he stressed, the responsibility doesn't lie only on school officials and coaches.

"It's parental involvement and responsibility and student involvement and responsibility," he said. "It's supposed to be a team effort."