Family sues school district for denying charter student chance to play basketball

[jpak]

Source: Bangor Daily News

HARPSWELL, Maine — The parents of a charter school student have sued their local school district, alleging discrimination because it denied their son the opportunity to play for the middle school basketball team.

In a lawsuit, filed Nov. 9 in federal court, Harpswell residents Wesley and Carrie Withers say their son was unlawfully discriminated against by SAD 75 — a district including Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Harpswell and Topsham — because officials wouldn’t allow him to try out for the Mt. Ararat Middle School team.

The student, who isn’t identified in court documents because he is a minor, has attended Harpswell Coastal Academy since 2012, when it opened as one of Maine’s first public charter schools. The suit, filed in Portland, states that he played for the Mt. Ararat team last year, in seventh grade, but that a change in school policy barred him from trying out again this year.

Now, the parents are asking a federal judge to intervene by ruling the new policy is a violation of Maine’s charter school laws and the student’s constitutional rights.

<more>

Read more: http://bangordailynews.com/2015/11/13/news/state/family-sues-school-district-for-denying-charter-student-chance-to-play-basketball/

[valerief]

1. Fuck charter schools and the people who support them. They just suck money from

public schools and put it in the hands of private profiteers.

[passiveporcupine]

36. charter schools are public schools, but

This article explains more about how they are run, funded, students are selected, etc. And why critics say they hurt the mainstream public school system. The public school system has to take everyone, charter schools don't.

State laws differ, but charter schools generally receive a per-pupil allotment from their local school district — some receive 100 percent of what would be spent on a student in a public school; more often, they receive less.

Charter schools rarely get public startup or facilities money, and so, must raise money to get off the ground. They often depend on private donors or foundations to survive.

Charter schools may find it easier to expel difficult students to the general population. Some charter school admissions systems are criticized for not being as open as they might be, and charter school teachers may find it hard to sustain the extraordinary commitment these schools require over time, leading to higher turnover.

Finally, oversight can be weak, and fiscal monitoring so loose that questions remain about how taxpayers' money is being spent.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Spotlight/story?id=3700261&page=1

[CTyankee]

40. my grandson's school is a foreign language school. He got in because one of the target langauage

they teach is his father's family language (Italian). He's the strangest Italian kid you ever saw: blonde, blue eyed and a pale skinned. But he opens his mouth and speaks pure Roman Italian (his maestra was from Rome). It's kinda funny, but he has vision problems and his hearing is is ultra sharp as a result. I love that he speaks such a pure form of the language...hope he gets to Rome at some point in his studies...

Oher charter schools in his area are different and hve different areas of concentration. But for my grandson, it's great. He's got great teachers and a grea school. They are all union, too, btw...

[Drahthaardogs]

48. Wow!

There are many blond haired and blue eyed italians with pale skin. Pure form italian = Dante Italian? Would not want a little blond haired boy speaking a Calabrian accent huh? God forbid a sicilian one. I bet piemontese would be cool though.

Do you realize you have just espoused almost every italian american stereotype that is out ther? Seriously? This is why the Sons of Italy exists.

[Drahthaardogs]

56. "What you assume is Italian" is again just a stereotype.

YOU are the one espousing racial stereotypes. I am not putting them on your grandkid, YOU are putting them on every italian american today. What a nasty, stereotypical little statement "Pure" Italian Language. Ugh. You don't even know what you are saying. You are the one who apparently has a visual stereotype of what an italian "should" look like.

My grandfather was 6' 2, with blue eyes and sandy hair. My grandfather on my dad's side had auburn hair - both from Canavesse in piemonte

[Drahthaardogs]

59. Of course they are.

You have a stereotype of italians in your mind. I speak Dante and peimontese dialects. I know a stereotype when I see it.

[Drahthaardogs]

60. And just so you get it.

Substitute " he does not look like you expect an Italian to look" with " he does not talk like you expect a black man to talk "

It is the same thing and it is what the Sons of Italy fight against in this country.

[Drahthaardogs]

66. You are hopeless.

Like the poster here who insisted Eskimo was okay to say when I told her from living in Alaska the natives consider it a slur.

Keep sending your grandson who speaks pure dialect and does not look Italian to his charter school.

[CTyankee]

67. No more. We just don't get each other. One dialect, another dialect, tomato, tomahto...

Why don't we call the whole thing off?

Goodbye, my friend...

[msrizzo]

2. I'm sorry but....

Playing middle school basketball is no one's right. If that's what matters to you then send you kid to a school with a basketball team. This is ridiculous. A school is a community, whether it is a public or a private school. Kids who play sports for any given school should be a part of that community. A no-brainer. However, I have no idea what Maine's charter school laws are so maybe they have a leg to stand on, but I still think it's ridiculous.

[1monster]

13. In my school district, students attending charter schools approved by the School Board

(and this School Board is very stringent about which which charter schools are allowed), are allowed to try out for the sports teams of their zoned school district. One of the charter schools is for students who need extra help in getting through school, whether for medical, specific learning disabilities, behavioral, or other reasons.

Some students find motivation in being able to play on the sports teams, so why would a school district want to deny students the opportunity. The schools, whether regular, magnet, or charter, are all under the same school district and have to abide by school district rules.

I am aware that other states (and perhaps school districts in this one) have different rules, but the whole idea of public education is to educate all students to the best of their abilities, and that isn't just academics and career training. Sports and arts, including chorus, band, orchestra, visual arts, clubs, etc., help educate students in social and community standards.

[madfloridian]

19. Are the charter schools run by the local school board?

Or by a private management company? That would make a difference.

[1monster]

20. One is definitely run by the school board. I'm not sure about the others...

I know that two are run individually. They are not part of a large management program.

[passiveporcupine]

37. Magnet schools are run by school boards.

Charter schools are not. See my posted link here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=1260713

[DhhD]

3. A Charter School is a business. Here is how UIL determines eligibility in Texas.

UIL - University Interscholastic League

https://www.uiltexas.org/policy/membership/charter-schools

[hobbit709]

4. A bunch of home schoolers here were upset that their kids couldn't play on a school team.

[avebury]

7. To play on a school team a studgent should actually be a student of that school.

If home schooled children want to play team sports then they should seek to form their own set of home school teams and then ask to be allowed to join the local school leagues.

[hobbit709]

9. That would be the rational response of anyone but a bible thumping home schooler.

[hughee99]

22. Exactly. My nephew attends our local public school, but plays hockey for the public school

of the town next door. None of the schools in our area have enough students to support a hockey team by themself, but all of the schools in our area combined can support one. They should shut down the hockey program since most of these students don't go to the same school.

[groundloop]

12. What's Home Schooling have to do with this? This is about Charter Schools.

In many school districts (not sure about this one), home schooled kids are in fact allowed to play on the sports team of whatever school district they're in.

This is a Charter School, where the parents have made the decision not to send their kid to the public school. IMO if playing sports is so all-important they should send their kids to a school with a sports team. They're just furthering the money drain from public schools by expecting to be able to use facilities and equipment paid for by taxpayers while taking money away from the public school system.

[hobbit709]

14. The same sense of entitlement.

You don't want to send your kids to the public school but then you want them to have what the public school has.

[Bubzer]

5. *smh*

Stupefying logic.

[Paladin]

6. If you opt for charter schooling, your kids should be in that school's athletic programs.

No cafeteria-style access to public school athletics---not after you've blown off the public school system. And the taxes you pay shouldn't be a factor, either

[Divernan]

10. Charter schools excessively subsidized by taxes.

[Divernan]

53. Ah hah! Re the web address, it's a MAGNET school

Your grandson attends a magnet school. We have those in our larger school districts, as well. We have one for the performing arts. It is under the direct control and supervision of the public school board. All teachers & staff, whether the traditional, geographically based schools or the magnet schools, have the same salary scales, benefits, etc.

You and I are debating at cross purposes. I'm talking about privately operated "charter" schools in my state.

[tammywammy]

64. So I've spent some time looking up Franklin Magnet School and the Glendale Unified School District

I cannot find any mention of Franklin Magnet School being a charter school. Though there's currently a petition for a charter school that would extend the dual immersion language program beyond elementary

[Divernan]

8. Public school districts pay all team costs

Providing and maintaining the facilities for games and practices; salaries/employment benefits of coach, maintenance staff, busdriver for away games; equipment and uniforms; etc.

Here in Pennsylvania we have documented that the charter schools collect far more per pupil from school districts' tax monies than they actually spend per pupil. Plus, charter schools weed out any kids who might require extra care - such as physically disabled, mentally impaired, etc.

Now add in the cost for a school district to hire an attorney to defend it in such a suit.

Hope the federal judge throws the parents' case out of court and assesses them costs of school district's legal representation.

[Divernan]

50. I stated the CHARTER schools weeded out disabled kids,

not the PUBLIC schools.

Plus, charter schools weed out any kids who might require extra care - such as physically disabled, mentally impaired, etc.

There may be significant differences between states as to funding formulas, oversight, etc.. In my state, we have cyber charter schools and bricks and mortar charter schools. We have had reports of numerous problems, including the aforementioned exclusion of handicapped kids,and on the other end of the spectrum, bogus classifying of kids as having learning disabilities to get extra payments. Rick Santorum ripped off the Penn Hills School District (PA) for tens of thousands of dollars for his kids who lived in Virginia and were in a cyber school program.

I don't have the link handy, but specifically some charter schools were being reimbursed far more per student than they actually spent.

[Divernan]

52. See my edit to Post 50, please.

[mrmpa]

15. As a former Public High School Teacher..........

I hate Charter Schools. Once interviewed at one, they offered me $24,000 a year. I have a Masters Degree. They wanted me there 50 hours a week, with the possibility of 55 to 60. I told them what they could rotate on.

Saying that, my youngest nephew made the decision to attend Cyber School, rather than his local urban public high school. He made this decision because he wanted to put his efforts both into the books and his golf game. He was aligned and able to play for this public school's golf team,( or he represented the school, as the coach neither had practice or set up matches). On his own he was able to be City Champion 2 of his 4 years and received a Division I athletic scholarship. He is now on the amateur circuit.

[packman]

16. IMHO charter schools are an affront to Americanism

Public schools were once the backbone of the American system. An equal education for all (Yes, I know this statement is porous, but it was an ideal). Charter schools get to select the students attending it, have rigid standards of behavior and quickly weed out any nail they can't hammer down - no wonder some get such glowing reports of academic success. Charter schools have got to be one of the worst educational experiments.

[erronis]

34. My feelings also. Cherry-picking students and selectively reporting results.

Sounds like the modern (vulture) american way.

[passiveporcupine]

39. They are not supposed to cherry pick students

All students have to apply, and if they get too many applications, they are supposed to be picked by lottery. But as with the financials involved, there may be inadequate oversight to make sure this happens. They are able to exclude some students that mainstream public schools have to take.

[packman]

61. Not to make this into a Posting match , but -

"It is a public school, he has disabilities that are accommodated, and the school building which accommodates both the foreign language learner as well as the standard curriculum student is the SAME BUILDING"

From what you are saying "a public school" which accommodates him for his disabilities - How is this then a Charter school which takes public funds to house selected students with selected facility and faculty taken out of the general funds. Charter schools are run under contract. If students attend a school to learn a specific language not taught in a public school but attend a charter school that has all the bells and whistles that are not given in a public school , that - IMHO - is wrong and flies in the face of equal opportunity.

[dembotoz]

17. districts place boundaries to reduce poaching of talent across school borders

sons high school hockey team was worst in the conference.
state champion contender next district over.
best player who would have played for my school in years wants to play for champs.
parents piss and moan to no avail
they then move the kid across the district line to supposedly grandmas house
kid gets on and stars on champ team...
boundaries and rules are for a reason

let the kid sit
if he wants to play
find a school who has a team

[cstanleytech]

18. Frankly unless there is a state law requiring the school to let the kid join the team its

beyond bizarre for the parents to think their child should be allowed to join this schools sports team.

[bluestateguy]

21. Suing your way onto the basketball team

That should be a good way to build camaradierie with your teammates.

[msongs]

23. my precious is too good for your school. oh by the way, can he play on your basketball team? nt

[petronius]

24. From the article, it seems the Department of Education sides with the parents

and against the school. I disagree: IMO, all students should have the opportunity to attend the public school in their district, and if they opt to go elsewhere they accept the amenities and extra-curriculars that are(n't) available in/at the school (or education mode) of their choosing...

--- Snip ---

The spat arose from a section of that policy which states that charter students would be allowed on a team only if there is room, or “capacity,” on the team after every interested student in the district schools has an opportunity to try out. The district says capacity is reached if enough students from the district school try out for the team. For example, if 13 Mt. Ararat students try out for the basketball squad, the team is full and there’s no room for a charter school student.

The Witherses and HCA argue that all students living in a district should have the chance to try out. Whether they make the team, club or organization should be based on their ability, not on how many kids turned out. Filling the slots with students who attend the school without giving charter school students a chance to try out is discriminatory, they said.

--- Snip ---

“The department’s interpretation of capacity is that all public charter school students who wish to take part in these activities should have an equal opportunity to do so,” he wrote. “For example, in the case of a baseball player, the decision as to whether the student is chosen for the team should be based solely on their ability to play baseball in comparison to the others trying out.”

--- Snip ---

[XemaSab]

25. I just went down to the local middle school and asked if I could play on the team

Just because I'm not a student there and I'm three times the age of the average student doesn't mean that I shouldn't be allowed.

It's a public school, I'm a member of the public, and I want to play.

It's my right as an American.

I'm getting a lawyer.

[erronis]

41. And by extension, why couldn't a public school student ask to play on a xian team

even if he/she was a practicing wiccan (or whatever)?

I can't imagine any sentient student wanting to be on a charter/religious team unless the God prayers really worked for the touchdowns. Hmmm. A good doctoral thesis - Does Praying to God While Making a Hail Murray Really Work?

[abelenkpe]

26. Wanna play on the team?

Attend the school.

[underpants]

27. Tim Tebow las were all the rage just a few years ago. Virginia passed one.

It allows home schooled kids to play for the school their parents decided not to send them to.

[Blue_Tires]

29. Damn...We actually passed that law?

What a crock

[underpants]

30. Yep

McDonnell signed it into law.

[Blue_Tires]

28. sorry, the kid has no inherent "right" to play a school sport...

there are plenty of youth rec leagues around if he wants to do that...

[jmowreader]

35. Most if not all states have bans on high school sports team recruiting

If homeschoolers, private school students and charter school students are allowed to play for public school sports teams, what's going to stop a corrupt school from plugging choice athletes into charters?

[goldent]

38. If the student lives in the public school's catchment area

and the student's school doesn't have its own sports program (in that sport) I don't see why he/she can't play at the public school -- it's not a club.

[Blue_Tires]

42. God forbid his parents let him play in AAU or some equivalent organization...

[hotrod0808]

43. They will cite The Tebow Rule in Texas.

Look it up. It is sickening.

[christx30]

65. I agree with most of this thread saying

the kid shouldn't be allowed to play Basketball at a public school if he goes to a charter school.
He and his parents decided to go to the charter school because of reasons. They thought he could get a better education there, or whatever. I'm not going to get into a discussion on the quality of education from a public school vs a private school. I think it's immaterial in this case.
What is relevant is that there are, and have to be, trade offs. If (what you believe) an exceptional education is your priority, go to a charter school. But if you want the benefits of a public school, like basketball, then go there. You can't have everything. If you feel that public school is lacking, then don't darken it's doorway with your presence.