Newton High School

44 Ryerson Avenue

Newton, New Jersey 07860-1831

Telephone: (973) 383-7573

Facsimile: (973) 383-1153

Jeffrey Waldron, PrincipalKurt Walton, Assistant Principal

Ryan Hashway, Assistant Principal, Athletics and Student Activities

NEWTON HIGH SCHOOL TRACK/CROSS COUNTRY PROGRAM: ROADWAY TRAINING

Background:

The Newton High School administration has for some time limited practice to the high school campus and to Kittatinny State Park. However, members of the program feel that the facilities provided do not give the athletes the training they need to compete. In an effort to provide the NHS track and cross country teams

With the ability to train and compete on a "level playing field" with other teams in the conference, the athletes, coaches, and administration of the high school have requested permission of the Board of Education to train on public roadways.

At the Newton Board of Education meeting of Tuesday, September 27, 2005, permission was granted for the cross country and track teams to once again train on public roadways, subject to the parameters established by a committee composed of the coach, the athletic director, the principal, a liaison member of the BOE, and a district insurance consultant/advisor.

A meeting of the committee was held on September 29, 2005. At that meeting protocols, safety procedures, and routes were discussed. Four routes were approved for supervised roadway training. These routes have been generally discussed; any route must be laid out specifically and explicitly approved by the athletic director and/or administration.

To the Parents:

There is an inherent risk in traversing the roadways during and after school practices. It is the intent of the school and the coaches to provide limited (that is, not constant and individual) supervision on the scheduled route through the use of vehicle surveillance and the coaches' participation. It must be understood by both athletes and parents/guardians that it would be impossible to supervise all athletes at all times. Strict adherence to the "rules of the road" set by the coach and athletic director will be required, and there will be zero tolerance toward any violation of those rules.

Rules:

1. Obey all New Jersey Motor Vehicle required practices and procedures, such as traffic lights, et al.

2. Runners will single file, sidewalks first, face oncoming traffic, stay far left of white line where applicable, wait to cross streets; give right of way to any and all vehicles, pedestrians, and bikers; run in pairs.

3.Other situational rules will be explained to runners and will be enforced.

4.Runners must adhere to the assigned, approved route.

Conditions/assurances:

1.All coaches used in roadway training are BOE approved.

2.All coaches will always have cell phones on their person during roadway training.

3.Injury procedures are reviewed by the coach and athletic director as appropriate and are clarified as appropriate

for roadway training.

By your signatures below, both student and parent/guardian agree to the term of the "rules of the road," aggress to a zero tolerance policy that requires that those who do not abide by the rules will be dropped from the team, and acknowledge the risk involved in participating in public roadway training. These signatures grant permission for the student to participate and accept the responsibility associated with that participation.

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Student SignatureDateParent/Guardian SignatureDate

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