Education
Education

High school sports: Are we putting athletics before academics?

By Maureen Downey
May 12, 2016

In the sports vs. academics battle, sports holds the advantage this week.

Consider the parents rushing to defend an APS football coach. The AJC reports Atlanta Public Schools found more than $10,000 belonging to the Mays High School football team unaccounted for, according to a report completed last week. That includes more than $6,000 in football receipts recorded by coach Corey Jarvis that were unable to be traced and more than $4,000 collected by him. The district also found that Jarvis engaged in "heated verbal altercations" with critics.

So, what are parents and community members saying on Facebook in response? One person wrote, “I believe a football coach must be tough in his teaching. Ten grand missing? Much ado about nothing from what I see. A coach is a leader of young men, not an accountant.”

And then there is the scheduling conflict today that pits the state soccer championship game between Decatur High and East Hall High against an IB Diploma test — a test for which no makeup is offered. Why is Georgia scheduling high school athletic championships in Macon in the middle of a school day during the most intense testing week of the year?

To read more about this sports vs. academics debate, go to the AJC Get Schooled blog.

About the Author

Maureen Downey has written editorials and opinion pieces about local, state and federal education policy since the 1990s.

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