NHS Student Handbook

The NHS Student Handbook 2023-24 includes information about high school athletics. Select information is quoted below, but all students should read section XI. Select Information on Interscholastic and Club Athletic Programs.

XI. Select Information on Interscholastic and Club Athletic Programs

1. PHILOSOPHY

The Interscholastic and Club Athletic Programs at Needham High School are an integral component of the comprehensive educational environment and are committed to the total physical, social, emotional and mental development of all students who participate. Aligning with the Mission of the Needham Public Schools to develop a “partnership that creates excited learners, inspires excellence, and fosters integrity,” the athletic programs also supports District Goal 2.0 which ensures that students have the social and emotional competencies that enable them to be self-aware, to have social and relationship skills, to self manage, and to make responsible decisions.

The programs also encourage all student-athletes to take pride in themselves, their teams, school and community. In order to do this, they need to learn what it means to cooperate with others, to set individual and team goals, to manage their time balancing all areas of their lives, and to learn the physical and technical skills demanded by their sports.

As members of the Needham programs, student-athletes are expected to demonstrate proper respect for all coaches, teammates, officials, spectators and equipment. All student-athletes are also expected to exhibit the highest level of conduct and sportsmanship both on and off the playing field, as they are at all times representatives of their teams, their school and their community. NHS Athletics adheres to a student-centered, process-based philosophy, and works with all participants to understand the Positive Coaching Alliance’s “ROOTS of Honoring the Game.” Rules, Opponents, Officials, Teammates, and Self:

Rules have been implemented to make the games as fair as possible, refuse to bend the rules to win.
The level of play is elevated with a worthy opponent so treat them with respect, remember “fierce & friendly”.
Officials enforce the rules to ensure fair play, respect the call even if you disagree.
Act appropriately towards your fellow teammates and never embarrass the team on or off the field.
Play with self-respect and live up to one’s own standards to honor the game.
NHS athletes who play by these ideals and standards ensure high quality competition for participants and spectators.

5. SELECT RULES, REGULATIONS, POLICIES, & PRACTICES

The following rules and regulations shall be adhered to by all NHS student-athletes:

All NHS student-athletes must abide by current MIAA, BSC, and NHS Rules and Regulations.
Inappropriate behavior and actions unbecoming to NHS students will result in action taken at the discretion of the coaches, the athletic director, and in some cases, the NHS Administration. This action may range from a warning, to immediate suspension from the team, depending on the severity of the offense.
If a participant is expelled from a team due to disciplinary reasons or because of an infringement of any local, league, or state rules, the participant forfeits their claim to any awards earned for a sport that season. The participant also forfeits their privilege of attending postseason team activities or events.

Needham High School enforces a Chemical Health Violation Policy for student-athletes who are in or out of season. The policy states:

“During the school year, from the second Monday preceding Labor Day (start of Fall practices in August) through the last day of school or MIAA tournament play, whichever ends latest, a NHS student shall not, regardless of the quantity, use or consume, possess, buy/sell or give away any beverage containing alcohol, marijuana or any controlled substance.”

7. ATTENDANCE & ABSENCE POLICIES & REQUIREMENTS

Below are the attendance and absence policies and procedures for all student-athletes at NHS:

Students absent from school may not participate in any extra-curricular activities that day.
Students who miss any classes due to entering school late or leaving school early are ineligible to participate in any games, practices, or extra-curricular activities that day.

8. SPORTS PARTICIPATION

Bona Fide Team Member Rule

A Bona Fide member of a NHS team (Varsity, Junior Varsity, Sub Varsity, or Club) is a student who is consistently present for, and actively participates in, all high school team sessions (e.g. practices, tryouts, competitions). Bona Fide members of NHS teams are precluded from missing a high school practice, competition or team activity in order to participate in a non-school athletic activity/event in any sport recognized by the NHS Athletic Department (as listed on page 4 of the NHS Student-Athlete Handbook).

9. ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS

A student must have passed, and received full credit in, five subjects (four of which must be majors) and not received more than one failing grade at the end of the most recent quarter (i.e. 2nd quarter marks, not semester grades, determine 3rd quarter eligibility), and must presently be taking at least five subjects (four majors) in the current quarter, to be eligible to participate in the Interscholastic Athletics Program.

11. HAZING & BULLYING

Hazing and bullying in any form is unacceptable. If you have any concern that your child is, or has been, involved in a hazing or bullying incident, we strongly encourage you to call the coach, the athletic director, or the principal immediately. Refer to “NHS Student Handbook” § IX, “Code of Discipline: Disciplinary Policies, Procedures and Regulations” for specific NHS Hazing and Bullying policies and procedures.

SELECTED POLICIES AND LAWS RELATING TO SPECIFIC CONDUCT

4. POLICY PROHIBITING HAZING

Students are strictly prohibited from participating in initiation or membership rites in connection with school sponsored activities when their conduct may reasonably be seen as demeaning or assaultive in nature. This prohibition applies even if those targeted give “consent” to such conduct. Students afforded the privilege of participating in athletics and other school sponsored activities are expected to take a leadership role, both by avoiding such conduct themselves and by reporting any such conduct by others to the principal or designee. Students who participate in this type of conduct, even as a bystander, or who become aware of it and fail to report it can expect to be excluded from athletics and other extracurricular activities. In addition, they may be subject to suspension and even expulsion from school.

Students are also reminded that the Massachusetts General Laws imposes criminal sanctions for particularly serious circumstances involving initiation rights and other conduct, by stating as follows:

Section 17. Whoever is a principal organizer or participant in the crime of hazing, as defined herein, shall be punished by a fine of not more than three thousand dollars or by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than one year, or both such fine and imprisonment.

The term “hazing” as used in this section and in section eighteen and nineteen, shall mean any conduct or method of initiation into any student organization, whether on public or private property, which willfully or recklessly endangers the physical or mental health of any student or other person. Such conduct shall include whipping, beating, branding, forced calisthenics, exposure to the weather, forced consumption of any food, liquor, beverage, drug or other substance, or any other brutal treatment or forced physical activity which is likely to adversely affect the physical health or safety of any such student or other person, or which subjects such student or other person to extreme mental stress, including extended deprivation of sleep or rest or extended isolation. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section to the contrary, consent shall not be available as a defense to any prosecution under this action.

Section 18. Whoever knows that another person is the victim of hazing as defined in section seventeen and is at the scene of such crime shall, to the extent that such person can do so without danger or peril to themself or others, report such crime to an appropriate law enforcement official as soon as reasonably practicable. Whoever fails to report such crime shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars. (See M.G.L. c. 269, §17-19).