Coach Requests School Board Policy Change

Famingdale boys lacrosse coach , who led the Dalers to , is asking the district to allow middle school athletes to move to varsity.

"Why would you not allow an exceptional athlete to get better?" Hartranft said .

The current policy, called selection classification, says a seventh or eighth grade athlete can't play on a high school team when the sport is offered at the middle school level, meaning only tennis players, golfers, bowlers and swimmers can move up.

Board of Education president Shari Bardash-Eivers said the policy was changed in 2000 and updated in 2004 because the board saw the practice being abused by coaches and parents.

During the public input session, Hartranft said the main concerns the board could have are that middle school athletes would be not ready physically or emotionally and that it wasn't fair to seniors.

He said the physical readiness concern is not justified because of the test the middle school athletes must pass and that the emotional concern is void because tennis players, golfers, bowlers and swimmers can move up.

"The third is the real one haunting people, that an eighth grade student comes up and takes the playing spot of the twelfth grader," Hartranft said. "They may take someone's place. But if you are going to use that argument why is it ok when a ninth grader takes a twelfth grader's spot?"

Board members Tina Diamond and Russ Catanzaro, who were both on the board when the policy was implemented, said they support changing the policy. The other members said they do not support changing it.

"I've watched too many athletes, especially females, destroy their bodies by playing too many sports, too often, being pushed too hard, by parents that are too aggressive," said board member , who is a former tennis coach.

The board elected not to vote on the item at the November meeting. This topic was first addressed at the October meeting, brought up because Hartranft is interested in moving an eighth grader up to his varsity lacrosse team for the spring season.