The watchdog had seen enough. Checking student grades in the late 1990s as athletic director of the Boston Public Schools, Rocky DiLorenzo noticed a player who was eligible to compete despite taking home four D’s and an F.
The state’s governing body for high school sports, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, requires students merely to pass four core courses per semester to remain eligible.
“I couldn’t fathom it,’’ DiLorenzo said. “It struck me that the kid was not putting in the effort to earn the privilege of playing interscholastic athletics.’’
DiLorenzo, who retired in 2003, responded by leading a campaign to beef up the eligibility requirements. Since then, students have needed a 1.67 grade-point average, equivalent to C-minus, to compete, while the MIAA’s minimum GPA effectively has remained a D, or 1.0.
The change continues to irk some Boston coaches. They consider it unfair that students who receive two C’s and two D’s are ineligible, while their counterparts in neighboring communities can compete with four D’s.
Several Boston coaches said a borderline student whose GPA falls between 1.0 and 1.67 has a better chance of improving his grades if he remains in a structured team environment than if he is cast out of a sports program.
“Someone with two C’s and two D’s is not the kind of kid you don’t want playing,’’ said West Roxbury football coach Brian Collins. “The thinking is that they will buckle down and get better grades, but that’s not what happens. Once they lose football, they have sporadic attendance and get into other stuff. For a lot of these kids, we’re the best thing they have.’’
Dorchester baseball coach Ed Toto said he deals with many at-risk teenagers who are hurt by the policy.
“Why are they holding our kids to higher standards?’’ Toto said. “The two hours they can be in practice are two hours they aren’t on the streets.’’
Others support the policy, including Paul Duhaime, a baseball coach and teacher at Burke High School in Dorchester.
“If a kid can’t pull a 1.67, that’s not good,’’ Duhaime said. “A lot of coaches differ with me because they feel we are putting kids back on the streets. But how can you have a young person play for you with a D average? If they aren’t going to show respect for themselves and their teachers in the classroom, how are they going to show respect for the game we’re trying to teach them?’’
The difference between a 1.67 and a 1.0 may seem minor, but Burke football coach John Rice said at least six of his returning starters last fall were academically ineligible despite logging higher than a 1.0. Rice declined to take a public position on the issue, other than to note that his players “would have been eligible in any other school system except Boston’s.’’
Scores of students in the Boston schools were unable to play sports this year because of poor grades.
“You see a lot of the same faces in different sports because we are the only ones eligible,’’ said Burke baseball player Augusto Ceron, who also runs track.
The city’s athletic director, Ken Still, said he would fight any attempt to lower the eligibility standard.
“As a society, we can’t keep moving down and let things get worse,’’ he said. “Sometimes you have to stand firm.’’
East Boston headmaster Mike Rubin, who sits on the MIAA board of directors, agreed.
“It’s all about having high expectations for our kids,’’ he said. “I’m not going to ever lower my expectations.’’
