For practical matters, House Bill 3127 of the 2019 session of the West Virginia Legislature is dead. You may remember it last year under the names of its family members House Bill 4007 and Senate Bill 130 from the 2018 session.

 

The bill once again involved allowing home-schooled students to participate in extracurricular activities as governed by the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission. In a nutshell, the bill would allow those students being home schooled to take part in athletics and other extracurricular activities at the school they would be attending if not being educated at home.

 

Although not exactly the same as its predecessors, the main point is the same. It’s frequently referred to as the “Tim Tebow Bill.”

 

Before going further, those wondering about discussion on a bill that is dead is found in the first paragraph. It may not have made the cut in 2018 and the current session, but as things stand now – in a non-election year – there’s a really good chance the bill will be part of the 2020 session of the West Virginia Legislature.

 

This year’s House bill failed by a 52-46. Multiple Republicans, 17 in fact, broke away from the majority to vote against the bill. Five Democrats voted for it. You can see how everyone voted by clicking HERE.

 

What do I think of it? For purposes of this blog, my opinion is a moot point. The opinion of Bridgeport High School Principal Matt DeMotto, however, is a different one. It is DeMotto who would be the individual where the buck stops at the highest level of sports in the K-12 system. He would be the one administering a whole new level of integrating the students into the system that don’t go to school there.

 

His opinion? It sounds a lot like his predecessor, former Principal Mark DeFazio, who was opposed and vocally so about the bill. DeMotto, although not as blunt as the now departed DeFazio, was certainly as steadfast in agreement the bill is not in the best interest of his students at BHS and doesn’t believe it’s in the best interests of students statewide.

 

Before he started, DeMotto prefaced his comments with those involved with a home school education. DeFazio did the same thing last year and, despite that, the heavily debated matter had some people call him “the devil” on social media, which he took great humor in as opposed to offense.

 

“I’m not against people who are passionate about home schooling their kids and certainly not against kids anywhere,” said DeMotto. “I can’t be in support of this bill because athletics and other extracurricular events within our high schools are used to enhance our primary mission and that’s to educate our young people.

 

“We utilize extracurricular activities to get students here on time, to get students here all day and to help us reduce disciplinary issues,” he continued. “The way we do this is if a student is late or misses any school, or has disciplinary matters, they can lose the privilege of extracurricular participation.”

 

DeMotto said Bridgeport’s approach isn’t new and probably isn’t unique. He said it was the standard under DeFazio and even before, when Lindy Bennett manned the hallways of the school situated on Johnson Avenue. And perhaps before that.

 

“We have done this for decades. I can attest that it absolutely helps us in the management of our school and the fulfillment of our primary mission,” said DeMotto. “If we would have individuals participating in our extracurricular activities that don’t walk the halls of Bridgeport High School then we cannot hold them to this standard.”

 

And that, said DeMotto, is a problem he can’t get past.

 

“I view this as very unfair to the students at Bridgeport High School who participate in extracurricular activities. We’re talking about more than half of our student body,” said DeMotto.

 

DeMotto said it goes back to choices made. He said choices and decisions have consequences. The principal said it’s something he and the staff at BHS discuss with the student body frequently and he believes it applies to this situation.

 

“I support the right of anyone to home school their child, but with that choice they are deciding to not be part of the (public) school in any way,” said DeMotto.

 

The most frequent argument put forth to allow home-schooled students to take part in activities has been taxes paid by residents – including those who teacher their children at home – make up a huge portion of a county school board’s operational budget. And this bill even would allow students taking part in extracurricular activities to count in some manner toward the formula in which the state provides counties with tax dollars for students based on enrollment numbers.

 

When asked about it, DeMotto said he’s heard it before. He doesn’t believe the argument holds up.

 

“To my mind, the best analogy would involve a very athletic 19-year-old who lives in Morgantown and works at a convenience store, therefore paying taxes. Can this individual walk on at WVU and be the quarterback because he pays taxes? The very thought is unreasonable in my view,” said DeMotto, who indicated he was certain people wouldn’t agree with this or even the analogy. “If you want to play at WVU you have to be enrolled at WVU. If you want to be at Bridgeport you have to be in our arena all day long and enrolled at Bridgeport High School.”

 

So the additional tax dollars doesn’t sway your opinion in any way?

 

“To me, the extra money is not more important than the principal of the situation,” DeMotto said.

 

The bottom line, however, is DeMotto said he’s certain the standards not only aren’t going to be the same and measured for those enrolled at BHS and those who are not, they can’t be the same.

 

“No one is going to convince me a home-schooled student is going to be under the same time management circumstances as a student that shows up here on time and every day,” said DeMotto. “It is simply not be fair to our kids.”

 

DeMotto isn’t alone in his opposition. He said the WVSSAC opposed the bill this year and in 2018. Last year when writing on this more extensively, Harrison County Superintendent Dr. Mark Manchin was asked about it. He also voiced his opposition to the legislation.

 

The WVSSAC opposition, said DeMotto, is troubling – and not because they are against it. Rather, it’s because he said they represent the principals of schools statewide and their opinion isn’t being weighed by many.

 

“It’s a bit concerning, to my knowledge, members of the Legislature don’t pick up the phone and call us to ask how this would impact us,” said DeMotto on Wednesday as the bill was dying by vote. “I personally have shared my opinion with some representatives. Some of us agree and some respectfully disagree.”

 

Harrison County’s delegation split on the matter. Democrat Tim Miley and Republic Ben Queen voted against the bill. Republicans Danny Hamrick and Terry Waxman voted for the bill.

 

“You hear all kinds of arguments to do this. I’ve heard the argument that some schools are bad and parents pull their kids out and it’s not fair that they can’t play,” said DeMotto, who then added another analogy. “That would be no different than me saying some sheriffs are bad so I get to drive their squad car.”

 

Based off last year, DeMotto’s comments will draw heavy praise or scorn depending on what side of the debate you sit. And based off of what I’ve seen so far and why DeMotto talked about it, round three of this matter is likely coming to West Virginia Legislature 2020.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo is of Principal Matt DeMotto, while the next three photos show boys track, the BHS danceline and the Indians band - all extracurricular activities - that are available to enrolled students of Bridgeport High School. Top three photos taken by www.benqueenphotography.com.