Clubs, Sports, and Organizations, Extracurricular and Co-curricular Activities

The Board of Education of District 101 is committed to establishing and maintaining a dynamic extracurricular student activity program that meets the unique emotional, social, physical, and intellectual needs of students. To this end, the Board is determined to:

1. Provide or arrange extracurricular activities for as many students as possible to participate in activities of their choosing regardless of skill level or ability.
2. Maintain an appropriate balance between skill development (the optimal goal) and competition.
3. Promote participation, interaction, learning, cooperation, scholastics, and community service.
4. Maintain an atmosphere whereby the activities are structures to be both fulfilling learning experiences and fun for the participants while ensuring student safety.
5. Encourage student, parent, and community involvement in development and implementation.
6. Focus on the philosophy of providing the best opportunity to maximize student growth.
7. Clubs will be developed with an emphasis on academic connections balanced with student and teacher interest.

Implementation

The Superintendent shall approve all District-sponsored extracurricular and co-curricular activities, using the following criteria:

1. The activity will contribute to the leadership abilities, social well-being, self-realization, good citizenship, or general growth of members.
2. Fees are reasonable and do not exceed the actual cost of operation.
3. Student body desires are considered.  
4. The activity will be supervised by a school-approved sponsor.

Building Principals are responsible for the scheduling and announcing of student extracurricular and co-curricular activities.  

Non-school sponsored student groups are governed by the District’s policy on student use of school buildings.  

Academic Criteria for Participation

For high school students: Selection of members or participants is at the discretion of the teachers, sponsors, or coaches, provided that the selection criteria conform to the District’s policies. Participation in co-curricular activities is dependent upon course selection and successful progress in those courses. In order to be eligible to participate in any school-sponsored or school-supported athletic or extracurricular activity, a student must satisfy the Illinois High School Associations scholastic standing requirements (doing passing work in at least 4 credit hours of high school work per week). Any student participant failing to meet these academic criteria shall be suspended from the activity until the specified academic criteria are met. (Board Policy 6:190).

• View Code of Conduct for Extracurricular Activities

Athletics

The Batavia High School athletic teams compete in the Upstate Eight Conference. We field teams at the varsity level in eighteen sports. Students interested in participating in athletic programs should contact the head coach of the sport or the Athletic Director. Please contact the Athletic Director for any updates on the IHSA rules for the 2010-2011 school year, or log on to IHSA at www.ihsa.org.

• View IHSA Provisions & Rules

To help defray the cost of extracurricular athletics and to maintain current programs, each participant in Batavia interscholastic athletic programs will be required to pay a user’s fee. This fee will be collected from each athlete for each sport in which he/she participates. Athletes must pay at the time indicated by the Athletic Director – before the first athletic contest.

The district allows a student to modify his or her athletic or team uniform for the purpose of modesty in clothing or attire that is accordance with the requirements of his or her religion or his or her cultural values or modesty preferences. A student is not required to receive the prior approval of the school board for such modification.

Extracurricular Athletics   

Student participation in school-sponsored extracurricular athletic activities is contingent upon the following:

1. The student must meet the academic criteria set forth in the Board Policy #6:190 on school sponsored extracurricular activities.  
2. The parent(s)/guardian(s) must provide written permission for the student’s participation, giving the District full waiver of responsibility of the risks involved.
3. The student must present a certificate of physical fitness issued by a licensed physician, an advanced practice nurse, or a physician assistant who assures that the student’s health status allows for active athletic participation. The Superintendent or designee shall maintain the necessary records to ensure student compliance with this policy.

The student and parent must sign the Code of Conduct for Extracurricular Activities

Extracurricular Music Groups

To be a member of any music department extracurricular performance group, a student must be enrolled in a curricular music performance class. Listed below is a brief outline of each of the music department’s extra-curricular performance group.

1. Jazz Ensemble is an instrumental performance group that gives students the opportunity to perform jazz, swing and rock styles of music. Performances are given throughout the year at a number of jazz festivals, local and area venues. Members in this group are strongly encouraged to take private lessons
2. Jazz Stage Band is the performing/training instrumental performance group that gives students the opportunity to perform jazz, swing and rock styles of music. Performances are given at various jazz festivals as well as local appearances. Private lessons are encouraged for members of this group.
3. Chamber Orchestra is a string instrumental group that gives students the opportunity to perform chamber, pop, and classical styles of string literature. Performances are given throughout the year at a number of string festivals, local and area venues. Members in this group are strongly encouraged to take private lessons.
4. Swing Singers is a co-ed vocal performance group that presents rock, pop and vocal jazz arrangements with choreography.  Performances are given throughout the year at many festivals, local and area venues. Members in this group are strongly encouraged to take private lessons.
5. Swing Singers Combo is a small instrumental group that provides the accompaniment for the Swing Singers. The group, which is comprised of piano, synthesizer, drums, bass, guitar and brass performs at most of the Swing Singers performances

Marching Band

The Batavia Marching Band (BMB) is a volunteer group that involves 120 students of the Batavia High School music program. BMB rehearses three times a week during the school year, competes in five contests, and performs at every home football game. In addition, BMB has various travel opportunities throughout the state and nation. Students can perform in the wind section, the percussion section, or the color guard. All students are accepted – there is no bench and there are no cuts in marching band.

Clubs, Honor Societies, Activities

Batavia High School encourages students to participate in worthwhile student organizations and activities because our school considers such participation to be vital to students’ educational welfare.

Students gain skills by working effectively together in collaborative groups. Research has repeatedly shown that students actively engaged in co-curricular activities generally do better in school and life than those who do not become interested in such functions. Get Involved! #weareone

Publications

These publications are governed by School Board Policy (7:310)

• The Batavia Spectator is our school newspaper. The Journalism classes make up the staff. Anyone wishing to write for the paper should see the sponsor. “The Batavia Spectator” strives to improve school spirit and teacher-student understanding. The sponsor is responsible for this organization. The graphics class does the printing of the newspaper. The newspaper is distributed monthly.
• Echo Yearbook Club Staff members work throughout the school year to produce our school yearbook, which is called the “Echo.” The yearbook is a collaborative project where students make decisions regarding each aspect of the book’s construction. The staff distributes the yearbook in the fall, typically during registration.