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Show Program will sink or swim with a certified teacher By DON ETA GATHERUM Staff Writer LAYTON-Davis County high school students will continue to participate par-ticipate in competitive swimming if the individual high school has a coach that is a certified teacher and enough students in the program to make it a viable sport. This existing policy was reaffirmed re-affirmed last Tuesday evening at the Davis County Board of Education Edu-cation meeting after the board heard recommendations from Jim Hill, district athletic supervisor, Tamara Lowe, Clearfield High Principal, Paul Waite, Viewmont High Principal Prin-cipal and several parents of swimmers who are currently in a district high school program. The question of continuing swimming as a high school sport was raised by Hill at a board meeting held May 21. A reason for not offering swimming as a competitive com-petitive school sport were that the district owns no pools so all teams have to practice at city- owned pools. The swimming time is then traded for gym time for city recreation recrea-tion programs. Hill said he felt this was a definite advantage to the cities. Another major problem with having swimming teams in the schools is finding certified teachers i that can be swimming coaches. The i Utah High Schools Activities Association requires all coaches to be certified teachers. Assistant coaches can be para-professionals or others not directly involved in the education system. The reaction for parents was unanimous in opposition to dropping dropp-ing this sport from the school program. pro-gram. At the board meeting, a Viewmont High School parent said, "we don't want to come back every year to fight for our program. High school activities are important. Students do better in school when they are involved in extra curricular activities." This father went on to say, "treat all sports equally. Whatever action is taken concerning swimming should also be taken across the board to include football, basketball and the other more visible sports." A Layton parent said he thought it was good to have community-based community-based pools and a good working relationship re-lationship between schools and city recreation departments. He pointed out that swimming is inexpensive and teaches a sport that can be used for a life-time. Another Layton resident said, "You don't have to have a body type to swim. All this sport takes is a desire to work." As principal of Viewmont High School, Waite informed the board that he has had five swimming coaches in eight years. "The curriculum cur-riculum often takes a back seat to extra curricular activities. These are important but they are difficult to maintain," Waite stated. There are 59 students registered for Viewmont's swimming program next school year. Clearfield High has 15 students registered for competitive swimming. swimm-ing. Principal Lowe said she doesn't feel good about dropping the program but she is having difficulty in finding a certified teacher to act as coach. "I don't feel good about turning the program over to someone that doesn't know what they're doing and that isn't associated as-sociated with the school and isn't accountable to me," Lowe said. Board member, Dr. Ray Briscoe, said, "extra curricular activities are like the "tail wagging the dog of academics. The majority of activities ac-tivities occur in the last 25 percent of the school year. It is very difficult to hold school." After a lengthy discussion, the board agreed to maintain the status quo policy of allowing each school to determine if a swimming program pro-gram should be included in the curriculum. cur-riculum. The board members also observed ob-served that the discussion was not just about swimming but about all extra curricular activities and the large role that the play in the total school program. |