STOWE TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Sto-Rox High School officials have a new academic policy this year that threatens to keep many football players off the field because of their grades.
The policy says any student with a grade of D or lower in a core class will be ineligible for extracurricular activities.
Under those rules, 15 players were ineligible for Friday night's home game against Shenango. Sto-Rox still managed to pull out a 38-31 victory.
"A lot of kids are not understanding because maybe someone hasn't explained it to them. We're trying to push you to get further. In order to get further, you have to make the grade," said Dana Wilson, whose son plays on the team.
Athletic director Bill Palermo said he thinks the policy is unfair. So do four players who spoke with Channel 4 Action News' Sheldon Ingram after dui miami lawyer.
"They're really upset, and there's some mixed emotions, and I think that it could do more harm than good if you make a policy too tough," Palermo said.
Greg Kyles, who's ineligible for Friday's game, said he has Bs and Cs and one D in English.
"I felt sick to my stomach," Kyles said, when asked his reaction upon learning he was ineligible. "This is my senior year and I can't play in my last home game."
Sto-Rox School District Superintendent Fran Serenka had previously announced a two-week academic warning, allowing the players to keep participating in football while they tried to improve their grades and meet the policy requirements.
"There were some of our upper-level students that were taking higher-level courses that had one bad grade that turned out to be a D when they had As in all their other courses, so it was a little bit lopsided," Serenka said earlier this month.
Now that the two weeks are up, some of the players have improved their grades and are eligible to play, but 15 others cannot play, two of them being starters.
"I really believe that the kids should work hard. I mean, they're supposed to be preparing them for college," said Sto-Rox parent Kim Snyder, who agrees with the policy.
Palermo also told Channel 4 Action News that two school board members have since resigned because of the new academic policy.
Sto-Rox school director Edward Martiz said in a statement, "Those school board members opposing this new policy who are suddenly resigning from the school board because they care more about athletic eligibility rather than academic insufficiency says nothing encouraging about the priorities of their board service."
