Red Cards So Far
Connor Strange
Staff Writer
The red card system has been around for a little over a semester now, but some news came as a shock on Monday: 22% of students in winter clubs or sports were red carded.
That’s a total of 82 bloodred sheets passed out within the first two weeks of the third quarter.
Obviously, this presents a problem. Such a massive number of red cards sent out in a day or two is quite a task to take on, and shows need for some revision.
“It’s not necessarily a student change; it’s more of the administrative changes,” activities director Dan Mussmann said. “If we’ve got to write this many red cards, it’s very difficult for our secretaries to establish an easy way for this to happen. We’d like to be able to streamline it to the point where students can check themselves. Right now it’s a very tedious job.”
However, if all the groups involved with red cards (e.g., administrators, teachers) strive to cooperate, the tedium might be reduced greatly. One seemingly uninvolved party is perhaps the most important for the system to work: parents.
“If parents don’t agree with this system, then they’re probably not doing their part,” Mussmann said. “But, all of the parents that I’ve dealt with agree. If everyone works together, it does make a much simpler process.”
Aside from the struggles of writing and sending dozens of red cards, the new system has worked well, according to Mussmann. Students have raised their grades to participate in their activities.
“The kids would’ve had Fs and Ds, and still played. Those same kids are playing because they raised their grades, and that’s the ultimate goal,” Mussmann said. “We do not want to keep kids out of activities--we want kids to raise their grades.”
A student’s GPA could have been described as miniscule prior to the implementation of red cards, and he or she would still be allowed to play sports.
“The state puts a very minimal standard on athletics. That minimal standard is that they have to pass twenty credits the previous semester. Your grade point average could be a .5,” Mussmann said.
One issue is present among the student body concerning the sheer number of red cards, that being the fact that most classes have only had one or two quizzes this far. Many think that their scores aren’t accurately represented by these nominal factors to the grades.
Regardless of the validity of the red cards handed out this week, they were certainly sent in large numbers. Hopefully the innumerable activity suspensions will die down in the following weeks.
