An amendment request to the Gordon County School District Competitive Interscholastic Activities policy (IDE 2) for grades 6-8 was discussed at the Gordon County Board of Education meeting last Monday. If approved, the amendment would allow sixth grade students to participate in school football.

Scott Lambert addressed the board with concerns. “There’s no way an 11 year old can play against a 14 year old,” he said.

“I never let my kid play sports in middle school. I think they should have a chance to play sports through activities like rec football—there they will have the opportunity to gain that experience. I think it would be best if only seventh and eighth graders play ball in middle school. I really hope ya’ll don’t pass this. Thank you for letting me speak,” he said.

The Board decided to table the policy amendment for 30 days before putting it to a vote.

“There has been requests for the policy to be changed to allow sixth graders to play football,” explained Board member Nan Barnette.

“The present policy states that sixth graders are prohibited from playing football. The board has taken these requests into consideration and we are currently looking into the pros and cons of changing this policy,” she said.

The Board tabled two other recommendations during the meeting. A recommendation for policy IDF regarding interscholastic activities, competitive activities and student drug testing and a recommendation for a drug free workforce draft policy will be discussed further over the coming weeks.

In other business, an October spending resolution was passed and Superintendent Bill McCown stated to the board that proposals for future spending resolutions should be discussed as the District continues to wait for the Tax Digest to be approved.

The tabled policy recommendations and spending resolution proposals will be considered and reviewed in a called board meeting before the November regular meeting.