By Colin Horan ‘21

MCPS Board of Education committee met on February 18 to discuss whether to remove the grade requirements for freshmen to participate in sports. The proposal is mainly intended for sports, but would be extended to after school activities as well. The county’s basis behind the proposal was to allow for more consistency with sports seasons regardless of it being the fall, winter, or spring season.

 The current requirements are that all students maintain a 2.0 Grade Point Average as well as having no more than one failing grade. Freshmen are also currently exempt from the grade requirements during the first quarter, but the new proposal will extend this rule for the entire year. 

The proposal is already stirring up controversy within the county. Those in favor of the proposal believe that it will encourage students to pursue things outside of the classroom that they have real interest in, while the opponents of the proposal say that the proposal will give an incentive for bad grades, and allow for students to not focus on their academics early on, which will set a poor standard down the road. Additionally, opponents of the proposal believe that allowing students to get poor grades will have negative impacts on the vast majority of athletes that won’t play in college, as it will make their application process much more difficult.

Despite the some people having their reservations over the implications of the new proposal, Sherwood Athletic Director Jason Woodward is in favor of the proposal, “I’m all in on the changes, because it will help freshmen as they try to figure out highschool, and allow them to not have to worry about sports and extracurriculars” said Woodward. “But coaches will have to continue to support and monitor their players academically.” 

The Board committee will still need to vote on the proposal, and if the proposal were to be passed, it would go into effect for the 2020-2021 school year. Regardless of the committee’s decision, the proposal could serve as a guideline to the future changes of MCPS’ academic eligibility policy.