Your Child's Right to Participate or Sue?
The AD is attending the MO state athletic directors' meetings this week. He called to say there has been a very interesting and troubling bill introduced in the that fine legislative body known as the Missouri House of Representatives. HB 1802, sponsored by Rep. Kevin Wilson (R) of Neosho, is summarized as follows:
HB 1802 -- Hearings on a Student's Right to Participate in Activities
Sponsor: Wilson (130)
Do you believe participation in education-based activities (particularly competitive sport/music/debate activities) is a right? Or is it a privilege to be earned and a part of growing up in a world where we don't always get what we want or expect? Is it a part of learning that when one door closes, maybe another one opens? Or an opportunity to discover we sometimes learn the most from our mistakes? If this bill passes and is signed into law in MO, Mr. Wilson and Co. can be assured it will be the last day the Coaches Fober (and many others) choose to work in the realm of high school sports in Missouri.
If you think finding funding and personnel for activities is a big challenge for schools, legislation like this could be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel's back and leads some schools to simply eliminate competitive, extracurricular activities all-together.
HB 1802 -- Hearings on a Student's Right to Participate in Activities
Sponsor: Wilson (130)
This bill applies to schools that are members of an activityWhat does this mean? Well, let's suppose your little Johnny or Janie didn't make final cuts for the JV basketball team, was kicked off the swim team for breaking school established rules, or transferred from School X to School Y for some reason and was ruled ineligible to participate in athletics for 1 year by current MSHAA transfer rules. If said school was a member of MSHAA (and most schools in a state are members of some administrative body), then you could take that coach/administrator/school to court, for a hearing before a judge only (trial de novo) and the judge could be the only and final arbiter of the issue. This bill would gut the authority of the coach, school or the state activity association to govern these activities.
association that regulates extracurricular activities and
specifies that the appeal of a ruling on student eligibility for
extracurricular activities may bypass the administrative hearing
process as long as due process has been observed. Due process
includes the right to a new trial in circuit court.
Do you believe participation in education-based activities (particularly competitive sport/music/debate activities) is a right? Or is it a privilege to be earned and a part of growing up in a world where we don't always get what we want or expect? Is it a part of learning that when one door closes, maybe another one opens? Or an opportunity to discover we sometimes learn the most from our mistakes? If this bill passes and is signed into law in MO, Mr. Wilson and Co. can be assured it will be the last day the Coaches Fober (and many others) choose to work in the realm of high school sports in Missouri.
If you think finding funding and personnel for activities is a big challenge for schools, legislation like this could be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel's back and leads some schools to simply eliminate competitive, extracurricular activities all-together.
Comments
You are just the sort of nut that sucks the joy out of all things good and character-building because "someone might get their feelings hurt". Schools pander enough to the lowest common denominator. Time to reward hard work and leave sports as a place of *true* accomplishment.
The issue of filing a lawsuit because I don't think my kid should have been cut serves neither the kid nor the program. What's next ... sue the referee because I don't like the call?
T Clark