Guilford County says call us if you need us with Athletics advisory

There’s a new hotline availble as part of the Fair Play athletics initiative and here’s the word from J. Brian Ewing at today’s News and Record:

Click Here.

28 thoughts on “Guilford County says call us if you need us with Athletics advisory

  1. As per the article 0-3 so far. 35+/- calls and emails. I hope they catch some kids/families cheating. I really do. Cab you turn in non-athletic illegal attendees too? Id like to see a running tab. I think a cost analysis will need to be done on this system each year. Some post on some blog somewhere mentioned a success rate of below 5% for the similar Meck hotline.

    We shall see.

    I love the constant reference to 12 athletes at Northern. The number is very true. Wht is never mentioned is how many of those kids went to NG specifically to play sports (illegally) vs how many went there for whatever reason and happened to also play sports. Im guessing somewhere around 4 vs 8 if you include the JV cheerleader who was the sibling of a baseball player. All illegal…. yes. But far too much emphasis on the athletic angle. Some of those kids were there for purely social reasons and then attempted to carry on a normal high school life which included sports. Again, I get it… illegally. Just to short circuit some of the following posts. I do not condone illegal attendance at any school for any reason. I just believe too much emphasis was put on sports and some would be shocked to find out how many kids go to various schools illegally for all kinds of reasons!

    Prosecute the geeks and heads too not just the jocks. That is what I say!

  2. Let the witch hunts begin by the School Secret Service ! Now the county is allowing or encouraging my enemy (or my friendly highly competitive school on the other side of the county) to disrupt the competitive balance that has been in place since moving to this city. The great part is that this entire process is “anonymous”. Will the county make a deposit into your checking account for each voilation comfirmed or give me a pass to the next tournament held at the coliseum? The county is walking down a dangous road because at some point someone with the resources will say “enough is enough” and file a lawsuit against the county. This lawsuit will require the county to be in court for months or years addressing policies and “secret” investigations. Since it is “anonymous” and is directed by apparently 1 person, then adminstrative oversight does not appear to be place and the findings could be compromised. This will lead to addition mistrust with the school system and soon a requirement that the county directly verify 100% of the students each year for complications. I fully agree with the posting by Mick that there are many students in this county going to schools “illegally” based on classroom or non sports performance only but they are not being checked because it is not a highly visible/competitive sport. At the end of the day a student that gets straight A’s and scores high on the prep test examines is hurting a school just as much if not more than a sports player. Can the non sports students get a 365 day suspension if found guilty? Will AD’s and teachers suspend students from the team or classroom until their eligibility is clarified by the School Secret Service ? This whole process is beginning to sound and look more like nazi German.

  3. I’ll bet there is not a single ineligible player this school year. The GCS considers their mission accomplished. They rid themselves of Yeager, Kovaleski,etc.—Force was just collateral damage. If Kovaleski had just let “sleeping dogs lie” with Hughes, thsi would have never happened. You just can’t fight city hall or Jill Wilson. She won and the Northern community lost.
    Joe Yeager was a good principal who was a Grier legacy and actually wanted his faculty to work—good luck, Joe. We now have a politician for a principal and a moron for an AD.

  4. TeeTee,
    You raise some very interesting questions about illegal non-athletic transfers. Let’s see what the responses are.
    One thing is for sure, and that is the school system has probably overlooked many different scenarios because anticipating problems has never been a strong point no matter who’s in charge.

  5. Slightly off topic….but I’ve heard that Guilford County will soon be implementing a rule where student athletes must maintain a GPA of 2.0 or above in order to participate in sports. Any truth to that?

  6. Emily, that is correct. It was announced a couple of weeks ago. I believe they are phasing it in starting with a 1.5 first

  7. This hotline is a good concept but the caller to the hotline needs to be held accountable for their accusations. It will cost GCS so much money and time to go on a witch hunt for every call or E-mail. For that reason, Hibbard needs to know who the accusers are and if they are found out to be lying, they need to be held accountable…maybe a $$$ fine. That will prevent people just assuming the student is illegal. You know what they say about the word ASSUME. Now the callers will have to have facts and proof of the people they are accusing. I remember my last year at Grimsley, people accused Sawyer Highfill of being illegal and Newman had to investigate. The accuser had no clue that both of Sawyer’s older brothers went to Grimsley and the Highfills have lived in the Grimsley district forever. That accusation came from a Grimsley parent. In 2007, after we beat Myers Park in the first round of the State Play-offs, a Grimsley parent called Myers Park offices the next day and told them Grimsley had an illegal player. I”ll bet most of the calls are coming from parents of kids at the alleged illegal players school whose child lost playing time because of that athlete. I always said that parents can accuse anybody of anything and they will, as long as it benifits THEIR child. Just hold them accountable and only the true offenders will be brought to the table.

  8. I dont have a problem with that at all. I dont have a problem with GCS busting NG or any and all other schools ot the kids that lied/cheated. I dont have a problem with attempts to clean it all up.

    I think the success ratio for the hot line will be very very low. I think the “faculty first” policy for coaching is a mistake and simply wont work at some schools or for several sports. I think they should root out ALL “illegal” students regardless of wether they are with the yearbook, debate team, or baseball, etc. Enforcement across the board is the only fair way tp proceed.

    NG lost because several of their students lied and comitted fraud to attend the shiny new school. The fault lies nowhere but with those kids/families and others within the NG comminity. Tough break? Perhaps but NG set themselves up for this fall.

  9. Frank Mickens is the only man that can fix the problems with the schools.

    He has the answers and he won’t spill all the juice on GCS until he is named Triad’s Most Popular Newsman.

    Vote for Frank then we will get answers.

    Frank knows where the TRUTH lies!

  10. Thats J. Brian Ewing who wrote the article, not McEwing. Gotta give the guy some credit here, he’s one of the best writers the N&R has.

  11. I must have been thinking about a Daniel McEwing that was a guard at Duke back in some day. Or was the kid at Duke Ewing too?

    When I first read the headline for the article, I thought they were monitoring the lights at the high schools and sending people around to check on the athletic fields after the football game to make sure the lights were not left on.

    Calls about athletics fields……

    I got it as I read on…..

    Thanks again.

  12. THE SNITCH LINE IS NOW OPEN. could be very entertaining. would be nice if they posted all the voice mails like the rhino times.

  13. What’s wrong with someone saying there may be someone attending a school out of district? It’s not in public, not on a message board, no loss to anyone and the school board keeps it private. Someone have a problem with playing by the rules?

    Alan, you gotta let the Grimsley stuff go. It’s over. I would think you want to get as far away as you can from that place.

  14. Nothing wrong with it at all. Is the line confined to athletes only? But be advised the success ratio will most likely be very low. But if it keeps folks honest I am all for it.

    I also believe the line will be abused by malcontents, pranksters and various other forms of vindictive folks. Kids and adults alike.

  15. Joe I think you miss Alans point. I believe he’s suggesting that callers should be required to leave some basic info in order to avoid pranks and other useless calls. The example he used is a good one. Someone kept complaining that the Highfill kid was out of district when the fact is his parents have lived in the Grimsley district since they were married in the early 80’s. People wasted time proving the rumor to be false.

  16. ad4deacs, good post. my beef is…more of our tax $$$ being spent for ??? We need fewer administrators and more teachers. Go Whirlies

  17. Less administrators and more teachers, less governement and more personal accountability…….couldn’t agree more. This idea was talked about more when this big poop storm first started but I thought it might be good to bring it up again…..what’s your opinion on open enrollment.

  18. ad4deacs- Thanks for understanding what I was saying. It had nothing to do with sour grapes against Grimsley. I was just making a point and having an opinion why I believe this system CAN’T work.

  19. “Phil tee”, I think you have some issues that have nothing to do with sports. Your issues are with GCS and Mo Green.
    Stop using this forum to rant and rave about “Your Issues”. Go and spend some time with a real publication such as the Rhino

  20. Another thing…I guess I got sidetracked by stupidity. This line for cheating is not a good idea because it could really
    turn into Mcartheyism. Any person could start trouble for a school by sending a bogus lie to the school system.
    This would start a process that could be both embarrassing and disruptive to innocent people. I do believe that
    GCS needs to do a better job in checking eligibility among middle and high school sports programs. Records
    should follow theses kids from Cradle to grave. If kid goes to a different high school than his middle school
    would dictate, then an investigation should follow.

  21. I still believe the Forsyth County has the best thing going. Their system could work for Guilford County all the same. Yes it would hurt a little in the begining as it did for Forsyth. If Guilford County let folks transfer to a school of choice, charge them a fee, they would make a little money. Again they could only transfer if the school has room. Let that schools administration determine if there is room not Doyle Craven or whoever approves transfers. It would save Guilford County a whole lot of money, time and headaches. Some people probably think that there would be this massive wave of student transfers. I believe you would probably see a little increase the first year but after that you would have no more than you do now. If there are unhappy students at a school, for whatever reason, I would not want them at my school, in my class or on my team. Let them go where they are happy and we will all be happy. I don’t know the percentage of transfers in Guilford County, legal or illegal, but I would bet that if the Forsyth County policy was adopted it would not change that much. Most of the students are going to attend the school they are supposed to go to.

  22. There is no need to apologize for getting sidetracked for any reason other than your screen name—that says it all!
    I do agree with your comment about middle school to high school transition and ‘throwing up red flags”. I do not agree that academic transfers and athletic transfers should be handled differently. if athletes are punished by 365 day suspensions, then academic s should be fined and forced to pay tuition.

  23. Agree with Dale’s point about academic transfers.

    Alan and ad4deacs, I don’t have a problem with people calling in. The difference is whether they blantantly lie or simply state they believe a kid may be out of district. Also believe you should leave you name as you say. But paying a fine? Come on. You’re smarter than that.

    I have a young kid getting ready for HS. I would be very upset if my kid worked hard and his team achieved on the field only to have it taken away because of an illegal player. Everyone seems so focused on the transfers. What about the kids that lose because of the actions of others?

  24. Reggie- If there is no punishment for sending out our tax money on a wild goose chase, parents do not care who they hurt as long as it benefits their child. In my experience, people WILL blantantly lie for the benefit of their kids. Remember, I was accused of robbing a condo, discrimination vs. deaf kids and hitting a player.

  25. Alan, your specific situation definitely got out of hand. But eventually the truth came out. It always does. The call line will be more of a deterent than anythng else. But if you tell people they’ll have to pay if they call in and it turns out not to be the case then no one will use it. There is a big difference between asking the question and defaming someone. Every situation is not like what you went through. Some people do some odd things to help thieir ids, you’re right about that. But the record has shown some coaches will do some things to hurt kids. And coaches are in a position of authority.

    There is a huge difference between a person calling in and saying that kid X may not be living in district vs. calling up and saying someone hit a kid or robbed a condo. It may cost some money up front but once this gets cleaned up he cost will be less. Look at what happened to Gabe King. How many parents want their child to be ruled ineligible for a year? I bet that makes some people think twice.

  26. Alan, you said…..parents do not care who they hurt as long as it benefits their child. In my experience, people WILL blantantly lie for the benefit of their kids.
    For the most part, that seems to be the parents who are lying & cheating the system for their own kids benefit.

  27. SL- NO QUESTION!!! YOU ARE RIGHT! I totally agree.
    Reggie- I think if the people calling are held accountable for what they say, then only the people with facts and proof will make the calls!

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