RIVER VALLEY — Last week I wrote about a 14-year-old girl who had been banished from an Eldred Central School-sponsored dance because her grades were not up to the district’s standards.

Even though other parts of the story were more provocative, such as the girl and her friends being put out into the street without their parents being notified, the idea of teenagers being denied a social occasion seemed off to me. The girl did not have a record of disciplinary problems.

The mental health crisis in this country is hitting young people especially hard, especially girls. The caring adults in their lives, taking their cues from experts, are always exhorting them to put down their phones and get together with friends to do fun stuff IRL (in real life). 

A July 2023 study by the National Institute of Mental Health says “more than 4.1 million children showed an especially notable increase in acute mental health care visits—including emergency department visits—among teen girls.”

The study found that mental health-related emergency visits soared in the second year of the pandemic, increasing by 22.1 percent among girls ages 13 to 17. It also found that mental health-related emergency visits actually decreased for boys—by 15 percent among ages five to 12 and nine percent among ages 13 to 17.

Pandemic-induced isolation is one reason usually given for the rise in mental health disorders among the young. But a national survey conducted over 40 years, shows the problem of loneliness among teenagers predates the pandemic. From 2012 to 2017, the percentage of high school seniors who reported feeling lonely or left out in social situations increased by 50 percent, the survey found, and the percentage of 12th graders increased by eight percent.

It led me to wonder if this time-honored way of motivating students to keep their grades up is a relic of another time.

A delicate balance

I called around to other local school districts to discover if they too had an academic ineligibility policy. I found that it is pretty universal—with one exception I’ll get to in a minute.

Getting the balance right between guidance, fairness and discipline on the one side and the inspirations that stimulate learning on the other has always posed a difficult and delicate dance for schools. They all endeavor to bring out the best in each student.

Although most local schools have policies that bar students from participation in school activities under certain circumstances, many of them will offer some kind of recourse, such as a second chance to submit a paper or take a test, or a redoubled commitment to doing better. Some schools narrow their bans to students in suspension, or to those who act out and may be seen as a risk to others. All districts have academic requirements to participate in school sports.

The Liberty Central School District will bar students from dances and other school-sponsored events other than sports for behavioral reasons only. Superintendent Patrick Sullivan said the privilege is revoked if a student commits a code of conduct violation one month prior to the event, or is absent the day of the event, or is in detention or in-school suspension.

Recourse for struggling students

The students at Sullivan West Central School District and their parents get a heads-up before events they cannot attend. “Students failing two or more classes and seniors who are failing one subject required for graduation are ineligible to participate in athletics, extracurricular clubs, prom and color wars,” said the superintendent, Dr. Kathleen Bressler. “Students are still allowed to be spectators at events and student athletes must continue reporting to practice and contests but may not play. Every Wednesday, students and their parents are notified if they are ineligible. Teachers can remove students from this list any day of the week prior to the beginning of fourth period when they are passing.”

She gave the example of a student who finds out they are failing two subjects on a Wednesday. They would not be able to attend an event that day. But, she said, “if they are able to bring at least one grade up to passing by the next morning by fourth period, they will come off the list and be able to participate that day, Thursday.”

Shana Bruestle, the principal at Fallsburg Junior Senior High School, described a procedure in which struggling students are helped early and monitored closely. She said Fallsburg considers a student at risk of ineligibility for school events if they are failing one class. If they wish to participate in extracurricular activities, she said, they must attend at least one tutorial session, either after school, during their lunch period, or during a study hall. 

Even if a student is on academic probation—when they are failing two or more classes—they can get back on track. They are required to attend tutorials daily and have teachers sign off on an extracurricular tracking sheet weekly, Bruestle said. If receive a passing grade within two weeks of receiving the failing report, they may fully participate in clubs and sporting events. 

“Students will remain in the probationary period until they are failing fewer than two classes” Bruestle said. “After the two-week period, if a student continues to fail two or more classes, they are considered ineligible. They are not eligible to practice or participate in competitions. Students must attend tutorial sessions until they are passing classes. Once all classes are passed, students will be considered eligible until the next list is generated.”

Fallsburg will bar students from attending prom if they have had a superintendent’s hearing during the current school year, were suspended out of school during the current school year, or were assigned Character Education/In School Suspension on three or more occasions during the current school year, Bruestle said. Even here, students may appeal to the principal.

‘Fewer failures with more active engagement’

The Wallenpaupack Area School District is the only school that does not have an academic ineligibility policy for anything except sports, which is governed by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association’s eligibility rules, according to Dr. R. Jay Starnes, the assistant superintendent.

He advised using caution when comparing districts, since each has their own needs and concerns. But Wallenpaupack is guided differently.

“Our philosophy is that we want people to engage in those extra activities,” he said. When students join dances, clubs and trips, he said, they stay deeply engaged with the school. The student whose grades are slipping is very often the kind of student who needs social connection the most.

Starnes said a principal at the school actually did a study for a co-curricular course on this very question, on whether engagement in dances, clubs and other extracurricular activities improved a students academic performance, and found a very significant, and positive, correlation.

“They are building relationships with staff” when they join out-of-school activities, Starnes said. “It’s community building. We want all our kids to participate.”