Harrisonburg superintendent announces task force to study an athletics academy
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Summary
Superintendent Dr. Richards announced a task force to explore building an athletics academy within Harrisonburg City Public Schools, saying the group will start small, include board members and local coaches, and hold its first meeting in December.
Superintendent Dr. Richards announced Tuesday that Harrisonburg City Public Schools will convene a task force to study the potential to build an athletics academy tied to the district’s academic programs.
"We are putting together a task force that will look at the potential, to build an athletics academy, in Harrisonburg City public schools," Dr. Richards said at the board’s Dec. 2 business meeting. She said the academy would be designed to tie athletics to academics and would start modestly and expand over time.
The task force will include two school-board members (Mr. Snyder and Dr. Howard), district staff such as Chief of Staff Mr. Romero, several coaches and athletic directors, principals and some parents, Dr. Richards said. The superintendent said the group will begin meeting this month to begin planning and that initial work will outline whether and how an academy could be built and how it would connect to existing programs.
Board members and athletic staff framed the announcement with a presentation of fall athletic achievements from across the division. The athletic director who presented data for Harrisonburg High said the collective student-athlete GPA across the fall programs was 3.79, and coaches highlighted all-district and all-state honorees as evidence of both athletic and academic success.
Dr. Richards described the academy as a complement to the district’s existing specialized programs, noting the division already supports fine-arts and STEM academies. She did not present a timeline for any formal proposal or placement; the item was an announcement and information item rather than a motioned action.
Next steps: staff will convene the first task-force meeting in December and report back to the board; no formal proposal or vote on creating an academy was scheduled at the Dec. 2 meeting.
