RANDOLPH, Utah.
December 19, 2017. In the last
month’s school board meeting the board accepted the recommendation of Principal
Rick Larson on practice times in the late afternoon and evenings for the Rich High Drill Team as a compromise position.
Ruthann Jarman, Rich High Drill Team coach, accompanied by team parents, told board members that
while she appreciated the practice policy that was decided upon, it will not meet
the team needs. She would like to appeal
for early morning practice for the girls in the regulation gym.
Point by point she made the case for the needed practice in
the gym that will mostly resemble the gyms they will be competing in. Practicing in the lunch room or the smaller
gym makes precision drills almost impossible as the lines change from gym to
the ones they painted on the lunch room floor. She said that practice needs to
be on a consistent surface.
Early morning practices make the most sense because there
are no other teams using the main gym at that time. Jarman cited several examples of other
schools which allow early morning practice for their drill teams. Not only that, the schools allow parents to
take the girls to the practice which Jarman said would be done by team parents without needing
earlier buses.
One objection to early morning practice was the length of
the school day and its effect on school performance. Jarman said that making the girls practice
until 7 p.m. also lengthened the day and also cut from family time. She said that the girls and their families
preferred an early morning practice for the next six weeks.
Another was that on snowy days the roads might not be plowed
for a 6 a.m. practice. However, she
called Ben Negus who plows county roads and he indicated that they are required
to plow the roads by 3 a.m. “It is no darker at 6 a.m. than it is at 7 a.m.”
Jarman said.
Other drill teams practice 10 to 15 hours a week. The Rich team practices 8 to 10 on inconsistent
floors and the competition judges’ comments reflect that. They are often criticized for not getting
spacing right because they are practicing in non-standard places. The girls are willing to practice more and
longer and give their all, Jarman reported.
She asked the Board to let her try for the next 6 weeks.
The Board then asked for an executive session which included
Principal Rick Larson and Superintendent Dale Lamborn. After a period of time, they were sent from
the session and Jarman was asked to go in.
The Board returned to open session and said only, “We will
keep the policy made at the last meeting.”
No comments:
Post a Comment