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Title: Girl expelled after suing school to be on boys' basketball team
Source:
New York Post
URL Source: http://nypost.com/2017/02/02/girl-e ... to-be-on-boys-basketball-team/
Published: Feb 2, 2017
Author: Kevin Kernan and Joe Tacopino
Post Date: 2017-02-02 13:22:12 by Hondo68
Keywords: St. Theresa, Catholic school, NJ State, Interscholastic Athletic Assoc
Views: 3096
Comments: 5
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.” “I’m furious,” the girls’ dad, Scott Phillips, said Wednesday night. “This is unbelievable. We just wanted her to play basketball.” 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. The Phillips family learned of the shocking decision at a training facility for the WNBA’s New York Liberty, where Sydney had been invited to watch the professional women’s team practice. “I am disgusted. How dare them? What did Katy do? What did Sydney do?” Scott asked. “I don’t know what we’re going to do next, but we’re still going to fight.” Last month, a New Jersey judge denied Sydney’s request to force St. Theresa to let her play, claiming there was just not enough evidence to upend the “status quo.” The school reportedly is protected from bias claims because of its religious status. However, the family filed an appeal that claims the archdiocese’s athletic leagues are actually governed by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. The rules for that association clearly state that girls should be allowed to try out for a boys team when there’s no comparable girls team. However, an association spokesperson told The Post that the ruling applies only to high school students. A lawyer for the archdiocese did not immediately return requests for comment Wednesday night. SEE ALSO
Richard Harbus
St. Theresa School in Kenilworth, NJRichard Harbus
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#1. To: hondo68 (#0)
"Just wanted"?? Oh, no. You went way beyond "just wanted". You sued the school and the Archdiocese and when you lost you filed an appeal.
Instead of sueing the school & the Archdiocese, why didn't they try to organize a girls basketball team ? If that was my daughter, that's what I would have done. I guess no settlement money or publicity in that. Si vis pacem, para bellum Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."Theodore Roosevelt-1907. I am concerned for the security of our great nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within." -- General Douglas MacArthur
No, you just wanted her to play basketball on the middle school boy's basketball team. If you just wanted her to play basketball, she could go to a local park or to a school that has a girls basketball team. She does not have an enforceable right to attend this private school. It was only shocking because they failed to observe Allen's Axiom: When all else fails, read the instructions. As for the school, let us assume the star of the boy's team is a budding man-child reminiscent of LeBron James, and he comes down with an elbow on the snowflake's head or shoulder, causing physical pain, physical damage, and emotional distress. There would be another lawsuit. How much would the school need to pay for added insurance for voluntarily permitting a 12-year old girl to play among the trees? http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2017/01/judge_wont_order_catholic_school_to_let_girl_play.html The school said that the parents missed the deadline for filing their daughter's application to play on the girls team. Also, school officials said that in late October there were not enough girls who applied for the team, so it was dropped. Scott Phillips countered that parents were never given a deadline for submitting applications to join the team, and that in past years the girls team had been organized in late November, just before the season started. http://nypost.com/2017/01/05/school-can-legally-stop-girl-from-playing-on-boys-basketball-team/ http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2017/01/judge_wont_order_catholic_school_to_let_girl_play.html 2 things I noted in this story: ---it's quite a shock that the ruling judge (Kessler) actually went against another judge's wishes...yes, Ms. [Theresa E. Mullen, Sydney Phillips' mother, is a Superior Court judge in Union County. Given how the legal community looks out for each other, this is quite a pleasant surprise... ---but then there's this idiocy from the parents' lawyer: "McCrea said there were just six games left in the season for the boys team. She repeatedly told the judge that the team had not been successful in recent seasons and that Sydney Phillips could help the team." First, if there's only 6 games left, what difference would it make? Second, why are they so obsessed with winning at a 7th grade level? At that age, shouldn't it be about having fun and learning how to play?
My guess is that most girls in that school aren't interested. Now, if she was attending a public school, Title IX could be used to force the school to establish a girl's basketball team. The downside to that is that if they couldn't get enough girls interested, the school would be forced to eliminate the boy's basketball team to maintain parity. The solution? Pull her out of Catholic school and enroll her in public school (no, not as a teacher). She'd get a shitty education, but she'd be able to play and be an "aspiring WNBA star".
Winning? Have they started keeping score again? How do the little snowflakes cope with losing? Has the suicide rate increased?
“This is unbelievable. We just wanted her to play basketball.”
#2. To: misterwhite (#1)
#3. To: hondo68 (#0)
We just wanted her to play basketball.”
The Phillips family learned of the shocking decision at a training facility for the WNBA’s New York Liberty, where Sydney had been invited to watch the professional women’s team practice.
Christopher Westrick, an attorney for the Archdiocese and the school, said the school had offered to let Sydney play for a girls team at a neighboring school, but the parents wanted her to play at St. Theresa's.
There are only 17 kids in her grade att St. Theresa’s, she said.
mike91163pt2
Jan 6, 2017
#4. To: Stoner (#2)
"Instead of sueing the school & the Archdiocese, why didn't they try to organize a girls basketball team ? If that was my daughter, that's what I would have done."
#5. To: nolu chan (#3)
"Second, why are they so obsessed with winning at a 7th grade level?"
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