Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Girl expelled after suing school to be on boys’ basketball team
NY Post ^ | 2 February 2017 | Richard Harbus

Posted on 02/02/2017 9:14:59 AM PST by oh8eleven

The New Jersey seventh-grader whose family sued the Catholic school that refused to let her play basketball on the boys team was abruptly expelled from her middle school Wednesday.

The parents of 12-year-old Sydney Phillips were sent a letter from an Archdiocese of Newark lawyer saying that both Sydney and her sister Kaitlyn should not attend St. Theresa “tomorrow morning or any day thereafter.”

The Phillips family was hoping Sydney would be able to play with the boys after the girls team was disbanded last school year.

When the Kenilworth school nixed that idea, her dad took legal action against the archdiocese and St. Theresa.

Apparently the school charter maintains that it can boot a student whose family brings a suit against it.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: girlssports
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061 next last
To: oh8eleven

The Jesuit pope will probably intervene against the school. Sounds like his kind of liberal activism.


21 posted on 02/02/2017 9:33:31 AM PST by PAR35
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: day10

Yeah, does she not have any local leagues or YM(W?)CA leagues around?

I mean, I understand staying at your school but one can still usually get into other leagues.


22 posted on 02/02/2017 9:39:06 AM PST by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Dilbert San Diego

Good point. Why would one want to start the hassle and $$ of suits when they might much more easily sign her up for the local Y league?


23 posted on 02/02/2017 9:40:36 AM PST by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: oh8eleven

PC or not, this should be standard conduct for any school or facility being sued. You are suing us, we cannot possibly continue to have you here.


24 posted on 02/02/2017 9:42:34 AM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: day10; Dilbert San Diego

Quick map search reveals several YMCAs right in that immediate vicinity.

I can’t believe none of them has a basketball league for girls!


25 posted on 02/02/2017 9:46:38 AM PST by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: oh8eleven

Someone who sues the school if obviously not a supporter of the school. They need to go elsewhere. I will cringe if I hear of an apology issued in a few days. I’m sick of people having the courage to stand on principle, only to have them cave a few days later. If you’re not going to stand your ground, just let people walk all over you in the first place and be done with it.


26 posted on 02/02/2017 9:47:49 AM PST by JudyinCanada
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: xzins

Shhhhh. Don’t let the False Pope know. He’ll order the school to create a transgender team.


27 posted on 02/02/2017 9:49:19 AM PST by libstripper (oHillary is willing to risk her own life to protect her secretive nature. She would rather go to her)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: libstripper

Bring back Benedict


28 posted on 02/02/2017 9:52:06 AM PST by xzins (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: oh8eleven
This situation has been mishandled, possibly on both sides. This is not a gender-bender issue. This girl agrees that she is a girl. There is no game-playing involved. She just wants to play basketball. Since there is no girls' team, I would have no objection to a special accommodation. She doesn't have to dress and shower with the boys; she just wants to practice with them.

That said, there are some missing details. Is there nowhere else that she could play? Is the school so small that it has a no-cut policy in basketball? (If it's a competitive situation, the chances of her making a boys team are remote.) What were the prior discussions between the school and the parents? This smells like one of those situations that reached a climax before any (emotionally mature) adults got involved in the discussion, which is not uncommon in youth sports.

29 posted on 02/02/2017 9:53:01 AM PST by sphinx
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JudyinCanada
They need to go elsewhere.
Ah, that's what the school told them - adios.
30 posted on 02/02/2017 9:55:51 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: day10

Yes there was no girls team it was “disbanded last school year”

until that circumstance it was reasonable to ask to play on the boys team but suing wasn’t necessary...

The school should have brought back the girls team

or made a mixed team

or disbanded the boys team also

Q: Why was the girls team disbanded

about the expelling...if this is an ongoing case maybe the girls were disruptive ...


31 posted on 02/02/2017 9:56:27 AM PST by Tennessee Nana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: oh8eleven

It’s not the 12 year old, you idiot. It’s the father.


32 posted on 02/02/2017 9:57:35 AM PST by AlmaKing
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PAR35

Yeah he or some nun will dream that Jesus had girls on his team...


33 posted on 02/02/2017 9:58:52 AM PST by Tennessee Nana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: sphinx
I would have no objection to a special accommodation.
And how long before every team, every organization in the school, and diocese for that matter, have to start offering special accommodations?
34 posted on 02/02/2017 10:00:57 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: oh8eleven

Nice to see the scool principal has a set of brass balls. A Nun no doubt.


35 posted on 02/02/2017 10:04:37 AM PST by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (The GOP will see the light, because Trump will make them feel the heat.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dilbert San Diego

So then the school will shut down the boys basketball team and blame it on the girl and her parents saying the courts overruled their policies which are there for very good reasons.

End result is the girls will have to go to school somewhere else anyway or be shunned then the team can be started again.

Hopefully the court will rule in the schools favor and charge the father all legal costs on top of it. This isn’t a civil rights issue and the world does not revolve around one girl who can go to another school if her passion is basketball and not learning.


36 posted on 02/02/2017 10:20:15 AM PST by Boomer (You can't shame a fascist leftist (liberal) because they don't understand the concept of honor.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: oh8eleven

Being stupid has consequences...lesson learned yet?


37 posted on 02/02/2017 10:21:06 AM PST by WKUHilltopper (WKU 2016 Boca Raton Bowl Champions)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: oh8eleven
"Have to offer" would be a deal killer for me. I wouldn't force anything on a private school. My humble point, however, is that on a case-by-case basis schools should be free to work such things out. Or not. But in this case, a girl just wants to play basketball. I don't know the background, but if she's been in this school since pre-K, she probably doesn't want to transfer in her last year. She may be a good player and she may plan to attend a high school with a girls' team. She was playing along in a normal way -- with the girls -- until the school cancelled her team last year. I don't want to speculate at length, but I can think of perfectly good reasons why a middle school might want to make an exception to accommodate a stranded player.

A not-quite-exact example: my daughter's soccer league had a "stranded senior" rule. That had to do with age considerations, not gender, but the underlying point is relevant. This was a highly competitive league. (A fair number of the girls will play in college.) Suppose that the core of a team has been together since they were tadpoles. Everything is hunky-dory through U-17. Then half the team, the ones with early birthdays, graduates high school. The remaining players are stranded without a team. In that situation, and in that situation only, the league allows girls to play down a year in age. The point is to keep kids in the sport as long as they want to play.(And not handicap girls who want to play at the next level, who would be hurt by having to sit out a year.)

In the situation in the story, the school dropped the girls' team. Going forward, girls who want to play basketball will choose other schools. But what do you do with those caught in the transition? I would lean towards letting them play, if they're good enough to actually make the boys team (which will be unusual, but not extraordinarily rare in middle school). Let her play her last year. Going forward, the problem will not recur.

38 posted on 02/02/2017 10:23:12 AM PST by sphinx
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Maverick68

Would this have happened under the watch of the previous occupant of the White House??


39 posted on 02/02/2017 10:25:22 AM PST by smileyface (Things looking up in RED PA!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: ilovesarah2012
So go to a school with girls basketball. The world doesn’t revolve around you.

True enough for girls and their parents who are entering the school.

This story, however, involves an older girl in middle school. Let's say she's an 8th grader. She may have been in this school since pre-K. (My older daughter was a "lifer" at our local parochial school, pre-K through 8th grade.) She's probably been playing basketball since the school fielded its first CYO team in the early grades. Suddenly the school cancels the girls' team (probably for lack of players). What is she supposed to do? Transfer to another school, leaving her friends behind in her final year? Or give up basketball, which she may hope to play in high school?

No, the world doesn't revolve around this particular girl, but if I were involved in this situation, I believe I'd try to find an accommodation to allow a stranded player to stay in the sport for her final year.

40 posted on 02/02/2017 10:29:27 AM PST by sphinx
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson