Lawrence aims to help student athletes FOCUS

Growing up in the East New York section of Brooklyn, Christian Paulino lived in a household with parents who came from Spanish-speaking countries and had difficulty with English.

A baseball player in high school and college, Paulino, 37, the Lawrence School District’s director of health, physical education and athletics, said he understands the struggles of some student athletes in the district to excel in both sports and the classroom. He wants sports scholarships to be a motivator, but not necessarily their only goal.

“I see myself in both my mother, who came from Puerto Rico, and my father, who came from the Dominican Republic,” Paulino said. “I went to high school, college — Saint Michael’s in Colchester, Vermont — that’s the range of experiences I had, and that’s what I want for our students.” Saint Michael’s plays at the NCAA Division II level.

To create what he called a “cultural shift” in thinking and offer more support to Lawrence’s student athletes, especially those who are struggling academically, Paulino introduced a new academic policy for them at the March 8 Board of Education meeting.

It’s called FOCUS, and Paulino said the idea is to concentrate on the whole student, and make him aware that a community-wide support system exists to help him that includes school staff, parents and even the community at large. He also wants to build better relationships with students and their parents.

“A major goal of the new academic policy is to identify the academic weaknesses of our student athletes, set in place the appropriate academic supports, nurture our students through the process and ultimately celebrate their successes,” he said in his presentation.

For the roughly 150 student athletes across the district, including nearly 10 percent who are struggling academically, failure in one major academic course will initiate tutoring and a weekly tracker of the student’s progress shared with his or her coach, the athletic director, and the grade level administrator and guidance counselor.

If the student fails two or more core classes, participation in sports is halted and a plan for academic success is created with the athletic director, the grade level administrator and guidance, counselor, and the student’s parents. His or her return to sports is contingent on passing the failed classes.

Angel Bran, a Lawrence High School sophomore who plays junior varsity football and ran winter track, described himself as a pretty good student, but admitted that his grades dropped when he worked remotely, because he had a tendency to drift off at home. Now that he is taking part in sports again, his progress reports and grades have improved.

“I don’t agree with the plan on failing one class, as there could be a lot of reasons why you fail,” said Bran, adding that he agreed that failing two or more classes is a problem. “A lot of things could throw us off our game — we all have issues — but with sports, we’re doing something we love.”

Lawrence High sophomore Jonathan Folds, a three-sport athlete — baseball, basketball and football — who says he is a fair student, agrees that failing one class should not bar participation from sports; rather, the minimum should be two or more classes.

Both said they would like to see more support for student athletes from the school and the community at large. “If you fail a test, then maybe the teacher says you can do something for extra credit to boost your grade,” Folds said, adding that he knows athletes who have been cut from teams after receiving one failing grade before the new policy. He would rather see a student remain on the team and get some help to earn a passing grade. Before the new policy was implemented Bran did fail a class. “I failed criminal justice one quarter and there was no help,” he said. “Everything stayed the same.”

Bran and Folds are already thinking beyond high school, which is one of the goals of Paulino’s FOCUS policy. “I want to do well, and dream of playing college sports,” said Folds, who is already considering York College in Queens.

Bran's sister, Natalie, a Lawrence High senior, was accepted by her dream school, Columbia University, and Angel said he aimed to follow in her footsteps. “I’m putting my time in and working hard and feel that I’m doing a good job,” he said. “It’s my responsibility to excel.”

Noting the goal-setting on and off the field, Board of Education Trustee Michael Hatten endorsed Paulino’s policy at the March 8 meeting. “You are paying attention to the things that could make you successful as an athlete and also in the academic pursuits,” Hatten said. “[That’s] exactly what we want our young people to be striving for.”

Have an opinion on the new Lawrence policy? Send a letter to jbessen@liherald.com.