Virgil Dickson, The Examiner
2007-09-12 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

Harford County -

About half the students in predominantly black Harford schools have been banned from sports and other extracurricular activities because they received at least one failing grade, new statistics show.

By comparison, only 1 in 5 students at mostly white schools received at least one failing grade and were thus barred from sports and other extracurricular activities, according to an Examiner review of the statistics.

The school board released the statistics as it reviewed the first full school year under a rule that bars from outside activities students who receive a failing grade in one class.

Tandra Ridgley, co-founder of the Grassroots Steering Foundation in Harford County, a nonprofit civil rights group, said the disparity came as no surprise.

“I don’t think it’s coincidence, because historically, there has been a trend where the schools that have the highest concentration of minorities were the ones that received the harshest penalties and suspension,” she said.

Ridgley had challenged the school district three years ago, when she learned blacks comprised 12 percent of students but accounted for 35 percent of suspensions and expulsions.

At Aberdeen High, with 47 percent minorities, 54 percent of students had failed a course. At Edgewood, with 50.5 percent minorities, 60 percent failed. Joppa, with 42 percent minorities, had a 46 percent failure rate.

School board President Thomas Fidler said the statistics illustrate a disturbing trend.

“This report signifies one thing to me, and it’s regretful and will burn some ears,” Fidler said. “The trend in this is that we have four high schools in the southern portion of the county that are probably [dealing] with a level of social-economic issues that these schools can not control.”

Chase Jackson, the board’s student member, called student opposition to the zero-tolerance failure policy “appalling.”

“You have to really have to try hard to get an E in class,” said Jackson, a senior at Harford Technical High.

Harford began linking grades and eligibility for extracurricular activities four years ago, first allowing two failing grades, then one, then none.

“We didn’t want students who were failing classes to participate in extracurricular activities,” said Ken Zorbach, supervisor of high school athletics and physical education.

“It has changed students’ awareness of getting better grades. They are taking better notice of what their grades are.”

Students can appeal being prohibited from an activity if they can prove that the failure was due to an “extenuating circumstance.”

POLICIES ELSEWHERE

» In Howard and Carroll counties, a student with one failing grade is ineligible for sports or other activities.

» In Anne Arundel County and Baltimore City, a student can have no more than one failing grade. All schools in the Baltimore area require at least a C average.

vdickson@baltimoreexaminer.com