Before they could practice or play, many student-athletes encountered the new Pledge Card policy implemented by the school over the summer.

“[The policy] needed a rehaul. One of the things that [the school] really wanted to ensure was that the [Pledge Card] night was valuable for everyone; to provide everyone with information and things that could really be taken and utilized for good and really what fit within our mission and vision are of the Athletic Department and so forth, and that’s kind of where we went with it,” Andrew Lambert, the recently hired Athletic Director, said.

Lambert says he and the Athletic Department hope student-athletes and their parents will understand what is expected out of them behavior-wise inside and outside of school, as they represent a large section of the high school’s family and need to be aware of the decisions they make and how [those decisions] can affect them, and the school, in the future.

An example of a Code of Conduct section that was expanded upon in the new policy is the difference between who handles discipline for an infraction of school rules inside the school and outside of the school. Punishment for breaking school rules in the building will be dealt with by the Dean of Students. If a student-athlete misbehaves outside of the school day, the matter will be dealt with by the team coach or Dr. Lambert.

Lambert and the Athletic Department plan on incorporating feedback from multiple sources in the near future, whether it is over improvements that the staff can make involving the policy or positive feedback involving how the system has worked well.

“We are going to be constantly evaluating it. So throughout the course of this year, we are going to run this new system for each season, and then from that, we will be collecting feedback as to what was useful, what wasn’t, suggestions for improvements, and so forth, so [the school] can constantly and continually improve to make [the night] meaningful and valuable,” Lambert said.

The feedback will most likely be supplied by the students and their parents, along with the coaching staff, Lambert said. However, the board is still deciding on the platform for the feedback, whether it’s a survey or formal conversations or focus groups that the school is involved with.

Aidan McCall, sophomore soccer player, believes the feedback option that will be introduced to various parties will assist the school in determining what is important in the policy, and what can be removed.

“I do think that the feedback platform will be beneficial. The Athletic Department will hopefully be able to evaluate the responses and change [the policy] according to what was found to be unclear or unnecessary and keep the aspects that were received positively,” McCall said.

The feedback platform should be available for many groups who are involved with athletic programs at the high school, including coaches, parents, and the student-athletes, McCall said, because together, the most insight on what was useful and what was unneeded regarding the policy can be gathered.

For now, students who have concerns about student-athlete behavior or who have feedback on the new Pledge Card policy can contact Dr. Lambert or Mr. Reagan in the Athletic Office.