March 15, 2012 at 6:41 a.m.
SDR looking to get more kids involved
School District of Rhinelander testing ideas to increase activities participation
SDR looking to get more kids involved
According to district officials, one of the greatest obstacles in the way of more student participation in things like sports, drama, and musical activities is the fact that a lot of students don't have transportation options to get them to and from practices and/or rehearsals.
In other words, many kids have to rely on school buses to get home -- school buses that are long gone by the time most activities are over.
In order to help alleviate the transportation problems a lot of children face, the school district is looking at running a few late buses so that those children can feel free to participate in any activities they may choose without having to worry about how they're going to get home.
"Beginning next week, we should have late buses," District superintendent Roger Erdahl, superintendent said. "The principals met ... and are working out the pick-up times for each of their buildings."
Erdahl said there will be some added costs to run the late-bus program but that they wouldn't be very high. Giving more opportunities for kids to participate in the various programs the district offers far outweighs any additional costs he said.
"There will be some costs because these will be longer routes, but they are being pulled off the 3 o'clock routes because they're not full and reassigned to, it sounded like 5:40 and 5:30," Erdahl said. "We saw that 27 percent of [students] said they might be influenced to come out for co-curriculars if they had a ride so that's a lot of kids. We're going to start slow with one, possibly two buses and keep plugging along to see what we learn."
Because fall and winter sports are traditionally the more popular sports, the test period for late buses will go through next year as the district sees how things go.
In a move designed to help the transition to late buses, the district is also looking at creating a policy that makes 4 p.m. the earliest time that a co-curricular activity may start.
"[A 4 p.m. start time] forces every coach to be done at the same time so they all can get on the bus, rather than have some done at 5:15, some done at 5:45, some not done until 6:30," Lauri Millot, chairwoman of the Citizen Advisory Committee on Co-Curricular Activities, said.
"Now, I recognize there will be some late practices where there's facility issues ... but those will be [with students] that conceivably should have the best opportunity to find transportation, either on their own because many of these students have a vehicle to use or another way parents can get them because it's later."
Not only will the 4 p.m. rule help with the new late bus system, but it will also give students time after school to do things they may need to get done, like homework or other activities, so that they don't have to worry about them after their practice, district officials said.
Having practices start at 4 "gives [students] that hour to go to a student council meeting, it gives you that hour to go to National Honor Society, it gives you that hour to do other things you might be involved in and it gives you that hour to go talk to a teacher if you are struggling in a class," Mike Roberts, school board member, said.
Millot agreed that the extra hour could really help students academically.
"That's the plan. We get [students] where if they need to do club things, they have the opportunity to do that," she said. "If they have a need to do some studying, they can be in the library to do that. They can also be in the library helping their teammate that needs it."
Getting knowledge out there
Another obstacle in getting students to be more active in sports and other activities is getting students to know about and understand what all of the activities actually are and what they involve.
To help get the knowledge out there, the district will be holding three activity fairs per year prior to the start of each athletic/activity season.
The purpose of these meetings is to educate students about all of the co-curricular activities being offered at that moment in time.
The district already held its first meeting regarding spring activities with great success.
"Coaches and players from each spring sport, we set up tables for them during the lunch hours," Charlie LaHam, activities director, said. "We had very good success at the lunch hour meetings where [coaches] could actually talk to kids. We signed some up to the amazement of some of the coaches so we had success with that."
The district also holds these fairs at the middle school level to inform incoming freshmen of the opportunities that await them at Rhinelander High School.
But while it's great to have more kids signing up for more activities, the district also has to be careful about over-lapping schedules.
This is all about getting kids as involved as possible, but the district also wants to make sure that it isn't forcing kids to pick and choose between activities.
In order to assure that kids aren't forced to have to decide between one activity or the other, the district is going to be holding a community organization meeting to "collectively address how to better inform students of co-curricular opportunities and to address how to collaboratively schedule and share students so that they may successfully participate in multiple high school co-curricular activities," a draft of the implementation process said.
Greater district presence
Finally, in a move aimed less at getting more kids involved, and more at showing kids that the district and its employees support them and are proud of them, the district is looking at requiring "all Board of Education members, District Administration, High School Administration, Middle School Administration, and professional staff" to attend two co-curricular activities they normally wouldn't attend per semester, according to the draft of the implementation process.
"I think people have to be seen and I think they have to be seen at things they're not regularly seen at so they see different aspects of the district," Millot said.
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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