GI school board agrees to craft homeschool resolution

by Kathleen Duff
Grand Island Dispatch, April 4, 2008

The Grand Island Board of Education Monday evening voted 4-3 to approve the crafting of a resolution that would spell out how homeschooled students are to participate in district intramural sports.

The vote comes after months of debate and investigation, including a March public forum, on the part of trustees and administrators in response to a request by parent R.J.Wynne and others to open extracurricular activities, specifically intramural sports, to the 67 homeschooled students on the Island.

Voting in favor of the resolution were: Board President Richard Little; board Vice President Jim Hanna; and trustees Glenn Bobeck and Tom Franz. Voting against were trustees Myrna Blair, George Casey and Neal Seamen.

Hanna, who has over the past several months urged the board to be thorough in its research and thinking on the topic, outlined to administrators the parameters for the resolution:

•Only intramural sports would be open to homeschooled students.

•Conduct standards should be specified.

•The resolution would carry through to the end of the 2008-09 school year.

•In 2009, the resolution would automatically revoke and go back to the board for consideration.

School Superintendent Robert Christmann said he and his administrators would “put the skin” on the resolution and would present it to trustees for vote at their next meeting on Monday, April 7. School Board President Richard Little emphasized that, in working on the resolution, administrators must not be distracted from the important business of drafting the 2008-09 budget.