SB128 signed by the governor

[Chris Duke 284]

How many kids take advantage of this? 

[JST 9]

Mine is debating on it. He's young for his grade and the possibility of getting cheaper college classes is very appealing.

[DrBaker 497]

I wonder what the logistics will be with attendance and all. 

[Ranger123 43]

Unfortunately I can see a number of kids who don’t want to do it getting forced to by overbearing parents who want to live through their kids’ glory. 
 

But I do see a few scenarios where a kid can truly benefit from this opportunity (not just sleep through another year of Hs as you retake the same material) and should consider it. Those are probably few and far between. 

[El Pollo Loco 20]

I do know that it's just optional. It's really a local school board decision. I know two of the larger school districts in the state are rumored towards not taking that route. 

Logistically, I would believe school districts would see it as a nightmare.

[JST 9]

As a parent who doesn't want to see his kid piss away his first year of college I believe an extra year is a great opportunity for maturity reasons alone. 

[JST 9]

If enough requests are made they will have a really hard time denying. In all honesty I think this effects elementary kids who can't read or families with limited internet rhe most. I personally know quite a few of families who fit in this category. But why not take advantage if you can and are willing. Personally I'm leaving it up to my kid. 

[Ranger123 43]

22 minutes ago, JST said:

If enough requests are made they will have a really hard time denying. In all honesty I think this effects elementary kids who can't read or families with limited internet rhe most. I personally know quite a few of families who fit in this category. But why not take advantage if you can and are willing. Personally I'm leaving it up to my kid. 

Yes, I can absolutely see the younger kids needing this. Important time in their life to learn foundational things. And online doesn’t get the job done for many. 
 

Hopefully all parents at least consider input from their kids on this. 

[El Pollo Loco 20]

35 minutes ago, JST said:

If enough requests are made they will have a really hard time denying. In all honesty I think this effects elementary kids who can't read or families with limited internet rhe most. I personally know quite a few of families who fit in this category. But why not take advantage if you can and are willing. Personally I'm leaving it up to my kid. 

I am an elementary school teacher, I totally agree with that assessment. If it is needed then heck yeah give that kid a redo year to catch up. I see the gaps forming and the need to catch up by repeating a year.

But from a logistical standpoint, going from 23 kids per class to 30+ per class especially with the cuts in budgets to almost every school. Keeping all those kids is a hard choice. I don't know the right answer. 

 

[Elite Training Center KY 37]

Since this is a wrestling forum I will look at this from a athletic standpoint. 

Any kid taking the extra year for athletics would be doing so to try and earn more money through athletic scholarships or to go for a state title if they didn't win one the first 4 attempts. If they are looking to go that route they would most likely red-shirt at some point in their college career so they won't need to get a head-start and take college classes in there super senior year. Kids will have all the time in the world to get the needed credits for their degree. I took the minimum 12 credits all 5 years and had more credits than needed by a long shot. 
 

Now, coming from a athletic stand point the extra year is a no brainer. Kentucky is way behind most competitive states (only Spencer is nationally ranked and he's graduating) so this gives everyone an extra year to catch up. I spoke with some college coaches about KY giving this option and they were amazed and even mind blown every kid with college aspirations weren't jumping on this opportunity. 
 

I have tried to come up with negatives to why this would be bad for any Hs kid and the only one is possibility of injury. As far as the whole classrooms going from 23-30 that's a bit drastic. The only school that would have more than maybe 2 kids actually committed enough to wrestling to take advantage is Union and I'm pretty sure the school of Ervin could manage. I don't see how this could really help non individual sports and anyone doing It for education should be allowed to do this either way. 
 

With all of that being said, every kid is different and It should be up to the kid at the end of the day. 
 

P.S .
This also gives people wanting to go D1 and stay in KY a bigger reason to go to Bellarmine. Take an extra HS year, redshirt, and after one year they can go to D1 nationals! 

 

-Nathan Boston 

[Tbagnky 33]

We can all agree that the past year has been challenging, to say the least. Kids doing work online, parents trying to help them with their work, teachers struggling to teach a curriculum to a bunch of faces/avatars on a screen and coaches of all sports stressing about the limits put on them have all made this a difficult time. Academically speaking, most kids do not have the tools to do what's being asked of them. Sure, there are some students that will always excel, but those are the top 2-5%. The rest need the guidance of the teachers and parents to understand the subject matter. We also have asked the teachers to do something that they were not trained to do. When they were student-teaching, they did so in a classroom setting. Our administration decided to keep the curriculum the same as usual and expected the staff to implement it. There are plenty of online education programs with the tools necessary for student success. Many kids in the state, from all grades, have suffered from this lack of planning. This bill is needed for this reason alone. 

Athletically, I personally noticed a lack of motivation in some kids. The constant dual/tri/quad meets took the individual motivation of "getting the gold" or standing on top the podium (that apparently, we're not allowed to have) away. It was great for team unity and bonding, but individual success doesn't always translate to team success. The ridiculous semi-state format with no wrestle-back, crazy seeding and limited attendance made the 1st and 2nd rounds of "State" the blood round. Many of these athletes were denied a true state tournament experience, especially seniors that qualified for the 1st time. We have some potential state placers ( I can think of three from one semi-state in one weight class) sitting at home this week due to that format. Coaches had to come up with events at the last minute due to cancellations or Covid restrictions. They also had to structure practice time, transportation, ticket allotment and/or streaming options to keep the program within the guidelines set by the all-knowing KHSAA.

As a parent, I wish that my father could have watched his grand-son in person, at least once, this season. I want that "state" experience for my son and his brothers that qualified for the 1st time. I also want them to have a normal school day. The interaction between students with other students as well as teachers and administrators is vital in the development of all children. The faceless system that they've been operating under this past year is not cultivating that development.

To answer your question, Chris, about 5-10% of the kids that I have asked said that they were seriously considering it. I selfishly want my son to do it, because he is our youngest of four children and I really am going to miss watching him compete and spending time in the stands with his teammates' families. But, I'm leaving it up to him.

[ukpridewrestler11 276]

29 minutes ago, Tbagnky said:

We can all agree that the past year has been challenging, to say the least. Kids doing work online, parents trying to help them with their work, teachers struggling to teach a curriculum to a bunch of faces/avatars on a screen and coaches of all sports stressing about the limits put on them have all made this a difficult time. Academically speaking, most kids do not have the tools to do what's being asked of them. Sure, there are some students that will always excel, but those are the top 2-5%. The rest need the guidance of the teachers and parents to understand the subject matter. We also have asked the teachers to do something that they were not trained to do. When they were student-teaching, they did so in a classroom setting. Our administration decided to keep the curriculum the same as usual and expected the staff to implement it. There are plenty of online education programs with the tools necessary for student success. Many kids in the state, from all grades, have suffered from this lack of planning. This bill is needed for this reason alone. 

Athletically, I personally noticed a lack of motivation in some kids. The constant dual/tri/quad meets took the individual motivation of "getting the gold" or standing on top the podium (that apparently, we're not allowed to have) away. It was great for team unity and bonding, but individual success doesn't always translate to team success. The ridiculous semi-state format with no wrestle-back, crazy seeding and limited attendance made the 1st and 2nd rounds of "State" the blood round. Many of these athletes were denied a true state tournament experience, especially seniors that qualified for the 1st time. We have some potential state placers ( I can think of three from one semi-state in one weight class) sitting at home this week due to that format. Coaches had to come up with events at the last minute due to cancellations or Covid restrictions. They also had to structure practice time, transportation, ticket allotment and/or streaming options to keep the program within the guidelines set by the all-knowing KHSAA.

As a parent, I wish that my father could have watched his grand-son in person, at least once, this season. I want that "state" experience for my son and his brothers that qualified for the 1st time. I also want them to have a normal school day. The interaction between students with other students as well as teachers and administrators is vital in the development of all children. The faceless system that they've been operating under this past year is not cultivating that development.

To answer your question, Chris, about 5-10% of the kids that I have asked said that they were seriously considering it. I selfishly want my son to do it, because he is our youngest of four children and I really am going to miss watching him compete and spending time in the stands with his teammates' families. But, I'm leaving it up to him.

Great response. I agree with all of this, but as a high school senior, I wanted to get out of there as quick as possible and off to college.

[GentleBeard 145]

I think it depends on the motivation to come back.  I have one that is considering it, but that's also because he would start college at 17 and repeating his grade would allow for an extra year of maturity and growth.  I told my team if they're going to repeat the year, they need to do it for academic and personal issues, not for extracurriculars.  We have others in the school who just decided this year was optional from the beginning and will just continue to fail school this year since this year doesn't count (the amount of F's this year has gone up exponentially). Also, does this have any affect on recruiting for the future?  If senior classes are bigger and scholarships are finite, will it create a "logjam" of sorts for the next few years?  I don't know the answers or the unintended consequences.  Those who were unable to compete last year and were negatively affected by COVID are about to finish their first year of college, so I'm not sure why this year is allowing for sports to be repeated.  

[DrBaker 497]

6 minutes ago, ukpridewrestler11 said:

Great response. I agree with all of this, but as a high school senior, I wanted to get out of there as quick as possible and off to college.

I was too, but I headed off to community college and kinda wasted my time. Now kids can take those basic classes in high school and not have to drive so far. I can see some of the appeal now. 
 

[panthers 62]

I think all of these are great points. I too believe there will be plenty of kids do this for different reasons. Yes it is a local district final say but from what I read it is all or nothing. Either everyone who applies is accepted or nobody is. The local board can't say this kid can and this one can't regardless of the kid or parents reason. I like many have a few kids that have spoken about doing this and my answer was simple. Its something that should be decided between the kid and parent not me. We like many had a terrible season with quarantine after quarantine so I see there point. For some like GentleBeard was saying had Fs every where and just struggled to stay a float so if that helps a GPA or with maturity then I get it. One kids answer was simply he was young and has nothing better to do while some are just no way I want to repeat and have 2 more years instead of being a senior next year. I think we will see some we never thought would and some should just won't. It will be interesting how fast these districts say yes or no because my understanding of the rule is June is deadline to apply.