Board debates middle‑school drug testing and tightens academic‑eligibility checks

Board members spent an extended portion of the meeting discussing a revised middle‑school athletic code of conduct and academic eligibility enforcement.

The superintendent described a middle‑school code that is largely aligned with the high‑school code but with some modifications. Board members raised the option of introducing random drug testing at the middle school as a deterrent; members discussed scaling the testing percent to contain costs (for example, drawing a smaller sample proportion at the middle school than at the high school).

A parent‑speaker‑style exchange and board discussion focused on academic eligibility when grades are in flux. One board member described a student who had multiple failing marks yet was allowed to participate; district staff explained the practice: if a teacher signs a grade‑check form indicating that a student has completed late work and the grade is expected to rise, the student can be allowed to play provisionally. If a teacher does not sign the form, the F stands and the student is ineligible. The newly revised code is intended to standardize that procedure at the middle school to match high‑school practice.

Board members emphasized consistency and deterrence as objectives and asked staff to examine costs and procedures before implementation. No formal motion to adopt new testing rules was recorded in the public session; the code language itself was on the agenda as part of second‑read policy items and the board approved the second reads discussed earlier.