If nothing else, we’ve confronted a cautionary tale this week about warped educational principles here in our corner of the world: Many local school systems espouse the concept of inclusion … until their own self-interests are compromised.

Erica Moser’s excellent reporting in The Day has unearthed a disturbing policy common in many of our towns: Schools allow magnet school students residing in their towns to play on athletic teams if the magnet school does not offer sports, but do not allow magnet students to participate in other extracurricular activities.

This began with the story of Ledyard resident and Marine Science Magnet High School sophomore Malloch Allison, who is being denied the chance to join the Ledyard High School robotics team — as the Marine Science Magnet High School has no such robotics offering. It morphed into a discussion Monday in Ledyard among the Ledyard Board of Education Policy Committee to perhaps extend the ban to athletics, as proposed by Chair Joanne Kelley.

Such exclusionary policies ought to have no place in our school systems, which purport to stand for inclusion, but instead, overtly or otherwise, uphold denial of opportunity. It’s nothing more than passive aggressive punishment for kids and their families who choose a magnet school education in another town.

Common practice in most of our towns allows kids who attend the Groton-based Marine Science Magnet High School to play sports back in their sending towns. The Marine Science school does not offer sports, triggering the CIAC rule that allows for kids to play sports where they live.

In recent years, several students attending the Marine Science school have contributed to their hometown’s athletic excellence. India Pagan (New London) won a state title with the girls’ basketball team and later represented Puerto Rico in the Olympics. Jacob Kozlowski (Waterford) was The Day’s 2022 Boys’ Lacrosse Player of the Year. Guillem Colom (East Lyme) won No. 1 tennis doubles in 2021 with partner Rohan Purohit. There are many other examples.

In each instance, the headlines brought nothing but mad props and bon mots for the schools in the sending towns. Some even experienced the two-hour infomercial for their schools known as GameDay. Translation: Everybody won. Funny how positive news flows regularly from inclusionary policies.

Ah, but now Ledyard threatens to double down on exclusion, adding athletics to the conversation. Kelley said because magnet students are counted in total enrollment for athletic purposes, Ledyard’s softball team got moved to a state tournament division with larger schools last year and was “robbed of their opportunity to go further.”

There was also discussion about whether choice-school students (from Ledyard) could displace Ledyard students on rosters.

Or there’s this: What if the magnet school kid was the star player that potentially led the Colonels to a league or state championship? It’s the same concept as India Pagan and Jacob Kozlowski.

School systems must consider the rhythms of changing societal circumstances. Sports are more important today than ever because they demand kids partake of faltering interpersonal relationship skills. A quarterback can’t text the play in the huddle. The kids must talk and communicate. Sports are about working with people of varying skill levels and varying interest levels toward a common goal. It’s different people with different temperaments and agendas.

Hmmm. Does that sound like the workplace to you?

That’s why we cannot take sports away from kids whenever possible. And certainly not through a punitive policy. There ought to be room for everyone. Especially in this case, where it is absurd to conclude that a Waterford kid attending Ledyard’s otherwise excellent Agri-Science program has more opportunities than a Ledyard kid who attends the Marine Science school.

Living in Ledyard ought to count for something, no?

Ledyard and other towns need to rewrite their policies and extend extracurricular activities appropriately. I remind the dramatis personae that Board of Education policies are hardly sacrosanct. They are not snapshots. They must evolve.

“I think there is a very difficult challenge in that we have a parent who is advocating for a singular exemption for her student” but “the board makes policy that is designed to benefit and impact the entire public school district,” superintendent Jay Hartling told The Day earlier this week.

Exactly. This must be fixed so “singular exemptions” are unnecessary because opportunity is open to all relevant parties: The kids at Ledyard High and the kids from Ledyard who do not have access to a certain team or club at a magnet school.

Changing a policy requires humility and humanity. And in the case of young Mr. Allison, it’s encouraging interest in science, technology, engineering and math on a robotics team. He’s not studying the vagaries of pole dancing.

There is another meeting in Ledyard next week with the entire policy committee expected in attendance. Members of the public might remind the decision makers they needn't start writing individual policies for each extracurricular activity.

Simply open them to all the kids. It’s called being human.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro