School Board Revises Underclassman Sporting Criteria

The Lindenhurst School Board passed changes to the district's policy on using non-high school aged players on their teams during the Community Forum held last week at Lindenhurst Middle School.

The policy, Number 4870 or "Underclassman Selection Classification," was revised to allow students in the eighth grade to participate on freshman, junior varsity or varsity level teams at Lindenhurst High School.

"The Board of Education recognizes the value of athletics as part of the Education process, and encourages excellence in our programs," the newly revised policy reads.  "However, the Board of Education also stresses academic standards and fairness among students. This policy is to allow underclass students to participate in higher level sports teams."

A moratorium was previously in place throughout the last school year preventing middle schoolers from joining the high school level teams after problems reportedly arose from the selection process. The policy, as of 2009, allowed students in the seventh and eighth grades to join high school-level teams.

Under the new guidelines, only eighth graders can be considered while their peers in the sixth and seventh grades were not mentioned in the new revision.

Eighth graders will also have to stick to the criteria on the policy or they will not be permitted to join the selected squads.

Those criteria include passing tests or requirements from the state or county, their parents and/or guardians writing a letter of approval, the varsity coach of the sport writing a letter of recommendation to the Athletic Director, who must also write a letter of recommendation to the Superintendent.

Denials during the process can be appealed, according to the new revision, and gives both students and parents the right to meet with the Athletic Director or Superintendent to appeal the decision.