At its Tuesday night meeting, the Guilford County Board of Education will deal with the issue of athletic eligiblility in the wake of the Northeast Northern Guilford High School scandal. The N&R reported that the board will consider a policy requiring students who trnasfer to another school to sit out a year of athletics.
Down Interstate 40, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools has an open transfer policy that —coincidentally — has resulted in 36 state championships over the past 12 years. School officials offer no apologies for the policy, saying it benefits students who wish to excel academically as well as academically:
Principal Stan Elrod of Reagan, who was the principal at Reynolds during the run of basketball titles, is a big supporter of choice transfer.
“Nobody tells you where to go to college, where to shop for groceries or clothes,” Elrod said. “We are in a society of choices. I don’t think that parents and children should be unhappy. I have been doing this a long time, and as I have said a million times — in my job, I would love to have a building full of students who want to be there.
“Personally, I think too much emphasis is placed on the athletic end.”
It will be interesting to hear the GCS board weigh in on this issue, as it’s been pretty tight-lipped as the Northern situation played out.
