Students at Caney Creek have had a much more difficult time passing during this school year than previous school years.
At the end of the 2019-2020 school year only 14% of students failed. That percentage has skyrocketed to 63% of students failing one or more classes during the second nine weeks of this school year according to Associate Principal William Kelly.
Despite these numbers, Athletic Director and football coach Kendall Hineman said that eligibility has not been a problem.
“Because of the later start, caused by COVID, we actually got hit with two grade checks during the football season instead of one,” Hineman said. “It was really good for our kids to stay on top of their grades, and actually held them more accountable this year than they were in previous years. A lot of them used to focus on only passing the one grade check, and being good for the year. This year we had two of them so I think it helped us in the long run by keeping kids on top of their grades.”
Sophomore James Ochoa attributes the bad grades of some students to remote learning.
“It was hard because online sucks,” Ochoa said. “We didn’t really understand a lot of stuff the teachers were trying to teach. It (remote learning) could have been a positive thing, but it ended up being negative because now some kids stay home whenever they want.”
Wrestling coach Jacob Ferguson also doesn’t see grades as being a problem.
“We had some hiccups in the first quarter, but I think we got it all sorted out,” Ferguson said. “I think it (grade issues) is caused by kids just not being accountable. When you’re online you have to be accountable. Kids need to have that maturity level. Even when I took online classes in college, I’d have to be pretty disciplined and be on top of it. I see where high school kids can struggle with that.”