As the Effingham County Board of Education office began receiving a wave of phone calls and board members’ inboxes began to fill with a frenzy of e-mails, a discussion of sixth grade athletics was added to the March 2 board meeting agenda Monday.

“I really think this thing has been totally blown out of proportion,” said board member Troy Alford.

The issue that riled middle and elementary parents and grandparents was whether the BoE was barring sixth graders from participating in school sports. The superintendent’s office and the BoE central office had heard concerns over football and specifically whether it was safe for a sixth grade boy to play with eighth grade boys in such a contact sport.

For the complete story, see Friday's edition of the Effingham Herald.