Please share how the new elgibility rule has impacted your program, especially in regards to co-curricular vs. extra-curricular choirs, and the 30-day (IHSMA & IHSSA) vs. the 20-day for athletics. Share your thoughts.

I was fortunate to have none ineligible for extra-curricular show choir this year, but I'm sure that will not always be the case. I have about a half dozen ineligible for curricular choir, but according to our calendar, they will not miss any events for the class. They will not be able to perform for our home solo/ensemble contest in February, but will be eligible according to the state rule for our March Concert and State Solo/Ensemble. The ineligibles, however, would probably not participate in that non-required program anyway.

They will, however, be affected by our local policy which can be more stringent: they will be ineligible until the next grading period. Yes, that's right, the new state policy will NOT affect them, but our local policy might--unless they are able to raise their grades by midterm 3rd quarter, which falls about Feb 20th.

Our AD is not very happy about keeping track of a separate "system" for music as opposed to athletics. While I realize the goal is for athletics to eventually adopt the tougher music policy, until it is, there is a bookkeeping nightmare for ADs, not to mention an inconsistent rule that we somehow have to explain to students who will miss 20 days of athletics, but 10 more days if they are in speech or a musician. Conversely, an argument can be made that a basketball athlete will miss far more 'performances' than a musician because of how the grading calendar is structured. On the surface, speech also seems to be much more strongly affected by the rule than music.

Personally, I believe students should be held accountable for getting passing grades. The difficulty lies in uniformly applying any kind of punishment (let's be honest, it is punishment) to students who are in activities. I've never known anyone who diagrees that students should do well in their studies. But I've also been in a hundred meetings that attempt to fairly apply the principles in a written format, and I've never seen one that seems to make students work harder to pass all of their classes.

I'm very interested in others' thoughts about it out there--don't be shy.

We're lucky here. If they are in regular Chorus, Band or Performing Arts (Drama), it is considered part of the class requirement to perform--so they can perform. We require everyone to do large group festival, but in Chorus I don't require everyone to do solo/ensemble, so they couldn't do S & E for me if they were ineligible. But, as you say, if they have grade problems, they probably wouldn't do extra activities--not always, though. Concerts/plays are required in the curriculum. Swing Choir/Jazz Choir is extra, so they couldn't perform.