Lafayette attorney offers prize for higher standards
Curtis Hollinger, a Lafayette attorney and former all-American tennis player at UL Lafayette, is reaching into his own pocket in an effort to prove that increasing academic requirements for high school athletes is not only practical but do-able.
Hollinger mailed a letter to high school principals in Lafayette, which should be arriving today, offering $1,500 to the first public school that raises its minimum grade point average to play sports from 1.5 to 2.5. The current 1.5 GPA requirement established by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association has twice been challenged in the Legislature by Lafayette Rep. Rickey Hardy, who has sponsored legislation to raise the GPA to a more modest 2.0. Both efforts have been beaten back by the LHSAA.
“It’s just a continuing effort on my part to keep this issue on the forefront,” Hollinger says. “I’ve never had anyone tell me how they can justify our GPA standard for athletes as being consistent with the world class educational system [promoted by state Superintendent Paul Pastorek].” The LHSAA, in opposing efforts to raise the GPA for student athletes, has expressed concern that higher standards will lead to an increased drop-out rate when students whose main motivation for staying in school is sports fail to make the grade and can no longer participate in athletics. Hollinger and Hardy argue that higher standards will nudge student athletes toward higher achievement — a critical dynamic since only a fraction of them will go on to earn college scholarships, much less reach professional level. “I’d like to see athletes be helped to pursue a good education,” Hollinger says, “and I think that state policy can go a long way to help in that cause.”
Hollinger sponsored a forum in September at the Cajundome Convention Center at which Pastorek was present and expressed support for Hardy’s bid to raise requirements for high school athletes. Pastorek will be the guest speaker Tuesday, Dec. 1 when The Independent Weekly Lecture Series resumes in Lafayette.
... written by Anon , November 05, 2009 - 06:49 pm
Hollinger is a class act. What a nice way to raise awareness for this issue.
... written by Amos J. Batiste, Jr. , November 05, 2009 - 08:33 pm
Mr. Hollinger and Mr. Hardy,
I am on your side. Please let me know if I can help raise awareness.
... written by Anon , November 05, 2009 - 09:53 pm
A 1.5 GPA from any Louisiana school is a recipe for ...
Bravo to Mr. Hollinger!
... written by Not Athletic , November 06, 2009 - 02:20 am
Did we get a perspective from James Simmons? It would have been nice to see what he thinks, since he's the Director of Athletics for the parish. Since the schools really have no choice but to follow school board policy, it makes sense to hear from the expert, and give the school board enough information to make a choice in this matter.
... written by curtis hollinger , November 23, 2009 - 08:25 am
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
Philip deMahy Sr., a once respected New Iberia ad exec, was sentenced May 2 to spend the next two years (he faced up to 100 years) in a state penitentiary after state and federal investigators found dozens of images depicting children engaged in lewd sexual acts on his personal computer.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
Curtis Hollinger, a Lafayette attorney and former all-American tennis player at UL Lafayette, is reaching into his own pocket in an effort to prove that increasing academic requirements for high school athletes is not only practical but do-able.
Subscribe to this comment's feed