MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Middle and high school sports coaches in West Virginia will be able to extend their coaching outside of their respective sports seasons with a proposed policy change the state Board of Education is considering.
If approved, year-round coaching would be permitted on dates beyond specified blackout periods that are part of the proposed policy revisions. Those periods are weekend days, the July 4th week and a week before the start of a regular sports season, dates that would vary by activity.
As proposed, principals retain oversight and could opt out of such year-round, “out-of-season” coaching for teams. Under current policy, such coaching is limited to three weeks each year.
Trent Sherman, principal of Martinsburg High School, said the policy change can always be revisited.
“We look at it this year and if we see, ‘Hey, there are problems,’ we come back in April at the Board of Control and we tweak it. We add some different language to it,” he said.
This past April, the Board of Control for the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission narrowly approved the proposal before sending it to the state Board of Education for consideration.
Critics of the change have raised questions about what effects extending practice times beyond seasons could have on academics, competing sports, other extracurricular activities, camps and family interactions.
“I just think the positives of this thing outweigh the negatives that folks are expressing,” Sherman said on Thursday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
Comments on the proposed policy change, once posted, will be accepted through the state Department of Education’s website. The comment period lasts for 30 days.
A vote from the state Board of Education is a possibility as early as July.