Building character or hurting grades?
School Board considers extending school athletic practice
curfew to alleviate scheduling woes at ice rink
By Lori Ehde
Luverne School Board members tabled action on a request for extended hockey practice hours at the Blue Mound Ice Arena.
With the addition of girls’ varsity hockey and increasing popularity of the sport in lower grades, scheduling ice time for both hockey and figure skating is getting tricky.
To share the rink fairly among all skaters using it, the school hockey program has requested the board approve practice hours beyond what district policy currently allows.
The proposal requests practice be allowed to start at 6 a.m. before school and continue as late as 9:45 p.m. after school on Mondays. On Thursdays, the request is for practice to start as early as 6:30 a.m. and go as late as 9:45 p.m.
Since the Blue Mound Ice Arena was built 10 years ago, the hockey program has grown to include more than 143 players from the 4-year-olds to high school players.
The Blue Mound Figure Skating Club now boasts 117 members from preschool to high school.
The shortage of rink time is troublesome, but it’s a good problem to have, according to Don Amos, one of the original hockey visionaries in Luverne.
"We envisioned this when we put this facility up," Amos said. "They couldn’t visualize that we’d have more than 100 kids in figure skating. They thought we were nuts. But we’ve been fortunate, and we’ve proven them wrong."
The requested high school practice extension is only 15 minutes earlier and 15 minutes later than the district handbook allows, but some board members had reservations about approving the request.
"I just worry about an avalanche of other sports wanting to do the same thing," board member Dan Kopp said during the Thursday, Sept. 28, School Board meeting.
"I really struggle with kids being up that early and staying out that late," board member Bob Kaczrowski said. "What will happen to their academics later in the day if they start that early?"
Board Chair Cary Radisewitz looked at it differently.
"Speaking as someone who did it in high school, getting to practice at 6 a.m. was tough, and by 2 you’d start to feel pretty tired," he said. "But my dad always said it taught work ethic and built character."
A point that also prompted discussion was that elementary-age club players currently end up practicing from 10 to 11 p.m. so the high school players can finish within high school curfew.
Mary Tilstra, an organizer for the Blue Mound Figure Skating Club, wasn’t at Thursday’s meeting but said she was frustrated no action had been taken.
She agreed with Radisewitz’s theory and supported the extended practices. "With our own kids, we always figured the busier we kept them the less chance they had to get in trouble, and it worked," Tilstra said Monday.
She said the four-hour figure skating sessions on Mondays have become the only night for figure skating that doesn’t conflict with hockey practice or games.
Board members tabled action on the request because they had questions about whether the request was for this year only, or if it would be necessary to keep the policy in place for future seasons.
Hockey and figure skating representatives had met with Luverne Activities Director Harvey Crable, but he was not present at Thursday’s meeting to answer questions.
Board members will take action on the practice request during their Oct. 12 meeting. They will also act on a request concerning family activities passes at hockey games.
Activity passes
During a meeting earlier this year, Luverne School Board members approved a $150 family pass good for all school activities, including hockey, which had formerly been a club sport.
Since hockey became a high school activity, it adopted current school gate receipt policies, but when family passes were approved, Superintendent Vince Schaefer said hockey organizers objected to the new policy.
"Hockey does rely on gate receipts for revenue, and with the district adjusting its rates, they’re concerned the revenue will be sharply depleted as a result of that," Schaefer said at Thursday’s meeting.
High School Principal Gary Fisher said all Luverne activity passes should be honored for all Luverne activities, hockey included.
"What they got out of the deal was an athletic director who does all the scheduling and shows up at the events," Fisher said.
He said the hockey program may sacrifice some gate receipts since becoming a varsity sport, but it gained benefits in other ways.
"I saw it as an exchange for the work," Fisher said.
The next School Board meeting is at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12.