Athletic Code: Students subject to 'self-referral'

By Dan Larson, Sauk Prairie Eagle

The Sauk Prairie Athletic Department has made a change to its athletic and co-curricular codes for the upcoming school year, according to a press release by the department July 11.

Students participating in athletics or co-curricular activities will now be subject to a "self-referral" policy, which means if a student violate the school's code, he or she will have 72 hours to report it to a coach or an administrator and be ineligible for the equivalent of 40 percent of the program's schedule — 10 percent less than if a coach or administrator learns of the violation on their own.

"We discussed it as a group and said that it would be a positive (change) to give kids ownership. Being in athletics and being in high school, that's our goal — to develop young citizens and adults that will take ownership and responsibility for their decisions," Sauk Prairie athletic director Aaron Braund said in a phone interview.

First-time self-referral code violators have the option of suffering a lower penalty — 15 percent ineligibility — by participating in an "educational remediation plan." The plan consists of individual counseling and education, or a meeting  between the parents, student and administration -— depending on the nature of the violation — Braund said.

The decision for change was made by a committee of parents, coaches and administrators that meets each spring to review the code, and it was approved by the Sauk Prairie School Board at its regular meeting June 9.

"It came a little bit stronger from the parents," said Braund, who is a member of the committee. "We had an example (last school year) where I wouldn't have known about an incident and the parents and kids came forward.They felt like the kids should be rewarded for coming forward."

Braund also indicated that the committee looked at "a number" of other district's codes, citing Baraboo and Stoughton as two that also included self-referral policies.