Kelly Henchett kept her message to the Templeton Unified School District (TUSD) board simple during its Nov. 9 meeting.
“The community and the students are only asking for one thing,” Henchett said. “We are only asking for the ability for independent study program students to have the opportunity to try out for sports—not to play, just to try out.”
Henchett was one of multiple parents at the early November meeting who repeated their statements from an Oct. 26 meeting, when they pleaded their case for the board to change its policy on sports participation for independent study students. At that meeting, the board opted to allow TUSD independent study students who lived in other districts to participate in their local district’s sports. But the board didn’t do the same for independent study students who lived within the TUSD.
“You cannot grant one student one opportunity and deny another student their opportunity—two weeks ago you did,” Henchett said on Nov. 9. “You allow other students in the independent study program from other districts to play sports and you denied those students who attend from within the TUSD to even try out.”
After a second presentation by TUSD Assistant Superintendent Ian Trejo, the board ultimately decided not to take any formal action on whether independent study program students can play if they live within the district until a formal committee is established.
Trejo noted in his second presentation that he had received criticism from both sides, especially regarding the high standard that non-independent study students were held to when it came to athletics.
“I took some jabs from people on both sides of the issue who felt I was not impartial in my [last] presentation,” he told the board.
In his reworked presentation, Trejo made note of several of the non-athletic policy changes that would have to take place to allow for independent study students to play sports.
“Independent study is a completely different program by design. For example, students without excused absences aren’t allowed to compete in games,” he said. “Because there is no direct equivalent of enforcing attendance for the independent study students, this could lead to a perception or actual inequity in what a student has to go through and maintain to be a student-athlete.”
In addition to attendance calculation issues, Trejo said that the academic standards to which regular Templeton High School students were held varied greatly from those of independent study students.
He explained that because independent study students don’t have their grades imputed monthly—they’re submitted at the end of the semester—holding the potential student-athletes to the same standard would require a change in how grades are reported.
Trejo expressed some frustration that the California Interscholastic Federation’s (CIF) inconsistent guidelines prevent a simpler policy change, since ultimately the district was beholden to its policies if change were to happen.
“Asking questions of the CIF is like asking a Magic 8 Ball,” he said with a laugh. “You ask it once, you shake it, you get one answer, then you ask it and shake it again and it gives you a completely different answer.”
While Trejo said he understands what comes with being a student-athlete and their importance in the community, students in the independent study program also deserve that same level of understanding.
“I am the principal of the independent study program,” he said. “[So] many teachers feel the program is very misunderstood and there is an assumption that only one type of student goes there, but there is a wide spectrum of students that attend the program.”
The board intends to form a committee designed to gather more information for a formal policy vote—a decision that likely won’t happen until spring 2024.
“A change to allow an independent study student to participate in sports does not guarantee them a spot on the team,” Trejo said. “It simply guarantees them the opportunity to compete for a spot.” Δ
This article appears in Holiday Guide 2023.