Brandy Jewell compares the Titan basketball team to family.
Jewell has played the game with the same girls since grade school. When teammates graduate, she said it’s hard on the remaining girls.
But not all student athletes leave because of graduation. Many athletes leave their district in the middle of their high school careers through open enrollment, a trend that has sparked a controversy.
Open enrollment is a policy that allows students to attend a school outside of their district.
When open enrollment was legalized through state law in 1997, its original intent was to allow students to transfer for academic purposes. Since then, however, districts find students transferring in and out for athletic purposes.
A recently proposed amendment to South Dakota High School Activities Association rules would make students ineligible for athletics for one year after open enrolling.
Now students can immediately play athletics if they open enroll before the school year. If a student were to transfer mid-year, he or she can’t participate in sports for 45 days.
In 1998, the first year for open enrollment, 72 requests were sent to the SDHSAA for review. The year after, 235 requests were sent and since then the SDHSAA has seen 152 to 187 a year. There are 174 high school students open-enrolled in the state in 2007-08.
Signatures from 30 school districts were needed to bring the amendment to a vote – 46 signed the petition. A 60 percent approval is needed to change the policy.
The vote will take place on June 3.
One of the signatures came from Tea Area Superintendent and Athletic Director Dean Jones. Jones signed the petition in February.
“I didn’t think it would hurt to bring this before the school board,” Jones said. “We’ll be talking about it with the board as to which direction to go.”
There has been no
serious discussion on how the board will vote.
However, Jones said he doesn’t agree with using open enrollment to benefit athletic careers.
“It sends the wrong message to students,” he said. “If it’s for an academic reason, maybe a smaller school cannot offer some of the electives a large school can. If that’s an interest the student has, they should be able to go to that school.”
Tea and Harrisburg have not seen a lot of students open enroll this year because it closed open enrollment because of space concerns.
But the Titan Girls Head Basketball Coach David Preheim said in the past five years, athletes have come and gone.
“Like most schools that deal with open enrollment, it can provide student athletes a chance to play sports where it might be difficult in their previous school,” Preheim said.
But transferring can affect the team.
“It can provide different levels of consistency of the teams personnel, not knowing who will be coming back next year,” he said.
Two students who played with the Lady Titans last year left the district after the 2006-07 season. One went to West Central, and the other to O’Gorman. Preheim said both of the girls were leading scorers.
“Not having the people who transferred and graduated put a dip in our play, but we pulled through as a team,” Jewell said.
Harrisburg, while not accepting any new players this year, does face similar enrollment issues.
The District did not sign the petition; Superintendent Jim Holbeck said he and the school board had not had time to discuss open enrollment and the petition had the amount of signatures it needed.
The Board will vote on the subject in May, when the time comes, Holbeck said.
Harrisburg closed enrollment three years ago, but Athletic Director David Hansen said several students have transferred out of the District.
Two went to O’Gorman – juniors Phillip Wright and Jordan Wheeler. Both Wright and Wheeler played football for the Knights this past year.
“They stated academic reasons, but that will always be stated,” Hansen said.
Another, a future Division I basketball player named Jared Vlastuin, transferred to Lennox.
But the District has benefited form open enrollment, too.
Senior Chris Buckmiller came to Harrisburg from Sioux Falls Washington.
“With the number of kids that have open enrolled out, we know athletically it hasn’t affected anyone that much,” Hansen said.
But Hansen agrees with Jones that open enrollment should be used for academic reasons.
“I would hope people aren’t looking at open enrollment as a way to further their kids ability to get an athletic or music scholarship,” Hansen said. “If that’s the way public schools are heading, we’re in trouble. No high school is designed as a factory to specialize a student. High school gives people a well-rounded education and good decision-making skills to be a good member of society.”
Jewell agrees.
“Once you start your high school career, you really shouldn’t transfer out. Your time isn’t as meaningful and it hurts the team,” she said. “It’s your team – you might not get the state title, but it’s still fun with your team.”
Fisher said the basic intent of the law was to allow open enrollment solely for academic purposes, but,
“Right now I’m not sure how I would vote. I do think there is a problem, but I’m not sure if this is the best solution.”
If the amendment were to pass, Fisher said students will think twice before open enrolling.
And as for Harrisburg’s future, Hansen said open enrollment would be an issue for the next 15-20 years, as the District is still in its transitional phase.
Hansen said despite the punches the District has taken the last several years, Harrisburg will come into its own and people will realize it offers a good education and a competitive group of teams.
“I think we are going to see people wish to come into our district,” he said. “I can’t emphasize enough the strength of academics and activities. People will want to take advantage or our new facilities and everything else.”
So whether the new policy passes or fails, Hansen said,
“We’ll see some go out, but more come in. The question is whether or not we’ll be able to open it up.”