Athletic eligibility policy, discussion on changing school names and mascots, on agenda
The Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education will meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12.
The meeting will be shown on YouTube.
The district’s eligibility policy for athletics and activities is on the agenda again. At a recent meeting, the district’s athletic director proposed a plan for high school and middle school students with a grade below C to be required to participate in a student support plan at the student’s school.
Currently, students are not allowed to participate if they have failing grades. The proposed plan would allow them to participate if they spend some time each school day, around a half-hour, being tutored before attending practice.
Some of the proposed policy grew out of situations created by students being required to stay home during quarantines, according to officials. Some of the students fell behind on their assignments when they were at home.
Three board members at a recent meeting were not in favor of loosening the requirements for athletes to have passing grades, however. The vote was 4-3 on the issue at the Sept. 28 meeting, with Yolanda Clark, Maxine Drew, Randy Lopez and Stacy Yeager voting yes, and Janey Humphries, Wanda Brownlee Paige and Valdenia Winn voting no.
Also scheduled at the Oct. 12 meeting, according to the agenda, is a board discussion about changing school names and mascots that might be considered racist.
See previous story on eligibility at https://wyandotteonline.com/kck-schools-consider-changes-to-athletic-eligibility-rules/.
There will be some changes this year for the Turner Day celebration on Saturday, Oct. 9.
The event will feature vendor and craft booths, a car show, inflatables and food options, according to Vicki Mullins, public relations chair for the event.
Because of construction at the new Turner middle school, the 36th annual Turner Day celebration will take place at a different venue, Mullins said. The new location is Swartz Stadium, the old football field off 51st and Swartz, she said.
Overflow parking will be available at Turner Recreation at 831 S. 55th, with shuttles available to the event, she said.
The event went from two days to one day this year, she said. Hours will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. They’re hoping to return to the two-day schedule next year.
The event will not include a parade this year because there will be no parking at the middle school due to construction, she said. Also, mud volleyball will not take place this year.
The rest of the annual event is pretty much the same, Mullins added. Entertainment and the walk of fame also are listed as activities.
All of the events will be outdoors this year, Mullins said. Temperatures are expected to reach 92 degrees in the afternoon.
Turner Days did not take place last year because of COVID-19, and this year, it’s affected because of the construction at the middle school, she said.
Mullins said many of the Turner schools will have booths and activities at the annual Turner Day event.
Funds raised from Turner Day will go back to future events, with some of the funds going to Project Graduation.
Turner Day is sponsored by the Turner Recreation Commission, Turner School District, Turner PTA, Amigos, McCownGordon Construction and other community partners.
Turner Day updates can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/turnerdaysofficial/.
The Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education approved a vaccine and testing plan at the Tuesday night, Sept. 28, meeting.
The policy “highly encouraged” staff and others to get vaccinated against COVID-19, and if they don’t have proof of vaccination on file with the district by Nov. 19, they would be required to participate in weekly COVID-19 testing.
All district staff who provide proof of vaccination would have five additional sick leave days added to their annual contract for the 2021-2022 school year, according to the new policy.
The board included school volunteers in the new policy, along with staff. The volunteers and staff would have to test weekly if they aren’t vaccinated.
A minimum of 45 days will be needed for the district to implement the new policy, according to administrators. Staff will upload a copy of their vaccination cards to a district website.
The administration presented the board with three policy options, and the board selected the second option, adding volunteers into the group.
Voting for the new vaccine and testing policy were Yolanda Clark, Janey Humphries, Maxine Drew, Randy Lopez and Dr. Valdenia Winn.
Wanda Brownlee Paige voted against the new policy, saying it was a public health issue. She said that so far, American society has allowed a lot of choice on vaccinations and it hasn’t worked. She was in favor of stronger mandatory language requiring vaccines in the policy.
Dr. Stacy Yeager voted no because she said she did not like the idea of volunteers being tested. She said she looked forward to continuing to work on the policy.
On an earlier motion by Paige, the school board voted down the first vaccine and testing policy option. The first option stated that vaccinations would be “required.” On that motion, Clark, Drew, Humphries and Yeager voted no, with Lopez, Paige and Winn voting yes.
“This is a public health crisis,” Paige said. “This mess will never end if we keep saying, we just encourage you.”
Dr. Yeager said she wasn’t able to accept mandating that all eligible employees receive a vaccination. She said she thought they would be the only school district in the county requiring employees to have vaccinations, which would be a hardship. She discussed the possibility that school district employees might leave if there was a mandate to get a vaccination.
Humphries said showing proof of COVID vaccination is similar to other school district rules that require vaccinations against other diseases.
Lopez asked for more explicit language around whether employees who tested positive for COVID were exposed in the workplace, and how it would affect their sick leave. That information will be added to the plan, according to the motion.
Stephen Linkous, the district’s chief of staff, said that currently the district is trying to follow the CDC recommendations along with the Unified Government Health Department recommendations. The district requires masking in schools, and that policy will remain in place.
A video of the meeting is online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnolho4V9Zw. The discussion on the vaccine and testing policy starts at 1:54 on the tape. The vote on policy 2 is at 2:42.
The Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools Board of Education approved policy option 2 on vaccinations at the Sept. 28 board meeting. The board modified this option, adding volunteers to those who would be vaccinated or tested. Also, there will be further language in the future about sick leave for those who were exposed to COVID in the workplace.
