The Tyrone Area School Board voted last month to revise its guidelines to allow home school students to participate in extracurricular activities.
The move came ahead of a more extensive look at proposed policies for home school students and the participation of home school and charter/cyber school students in extracurricular activities.
The board had 30 days to review the policies and last week adopted all three at the regular school board meeting.
In November of last year, Governor Ed Rendell signed a bill to allow home-school students to participate in such activities. A press release from the governor’s office noted 25,000 children are being home-schooled in Pennsylvania.
The decision at the local level was one the Tyrone Area School Board was bound to make or face legal challenges since allowing participation is now required by law as of Jan. 1.
Since the beginning of the year, the school district of residence must permit a child enrolled in a home education program to participate in any extracurricular activities provided by that local district. The child must meet both eligibility and the activities’ try-out requirements. The child will also have to comply with the rules of the club or organization he or she chooses to join.
A press release from the governor’s office said interscholastic athletics and activities, which occur between schools within the district or between schools outside of the district, are also included in the amendment. If the activity requires a physical exam or medical test, the district must post the information on their web site and circulate it in an area publication.
In February, two school board members, Peter Dutrow and Brian Bressler, voted against the revision to the guidelines. Last week, Dutrow voted against the policies to allow participation in extracurricular activities. Bressler and school board member Rev. Norman Huff expressed concerns about the policies, but both voted yes. School board members Lee Stover and Amy Stever were not at last week’s meeting.
In February Dutrow said, “I was involved in athletics all my life. I feel very strongly about the student athlete. Our students have to be in school on the day they participate, our students have to be passing (and) teachers are evaluating them.”
He said there are many intangibles that would be difficult to evaluate for home school students who are allowed to participate.
“This was my way of objecting to what the legislators are shoving down our throat,” said Dutrow.
When asked about his votes last week, Dutrow essentially said his opinion had not changed.
