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Student Records-Athletic Eligibility: Page 2 of 2
 

Student Records-Recent Issues

There have been several instances this year of high school varsity football teams allowing (knowingly or unknowingly) ineligible students to compete.  The IHSAA Board of Control has imposed penalties against those schools.  The purpose of this item is not to discuss the consequences but to discuss prevention of the situations that got schools into trouble.

1)  SITUATION :
Transfer student is known to be ineligible but is allowed to suit up in full pads and uniform for varsity games. At a point when comfortably ahead in one game, a coach yells for the "scout team" to go in for the kick-off.   The ineligible player, who has been practicing with the varsity as a member of the scout team, goes in for at least one down.

1)  STEPS TO PREVENT:
Ineligible players may practice with the varsity.  Thus, it is even more important that they be clearly told that this does not mean that they may compete at the varsity level.  Allowing an ineligible student to be on the sidelines in full uniform (as opposed to team jersey and jeans) is an invitation to forfeiture of the game if that player - as happened here - goes in for a competitive down.


2) SITUATION:
Student moves into a new district and plays varsity football in every game until - during Week 6 - someone finally notices that his 8 consecutive semesters of eligibility expired at the end of the 2005-06 school year.(He had dropped out of school after his sophomore year and was out of school one entire year.  His transcript accurately reflected this.)

2) STEPS TO PREVENT:
Check grades and dates of enrollment for all transfer students.  For this current school year, any student who started his or her freshman year in 2002-03 has used up his/her eligibility.


3)SITUATION:
At registration, a new student in District A states that he and his family have moved in from District B.  District A requests his records from District B.  The records are not sent for several months...until after the student has been allowed by District A to play in 3 varsity games.  When the records come, they show that the student was EXPELLED by District B and that the period of expulsion has not expired.  District A also learns that the student and family still reside within District B.  

3) STEPS TO PREVENT:
The only practical solution to situations such as this are to insist on holding a student out of varsity competition until the records come.  Get the family involved to put pressure on the former district; make phone calls;  do whatever it takes.  In this case, the student was ineligible both conduct-wise and as a transfer student, but additionally - THIS STUDENT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ENROLLED.  As an expelled student whose period of expulsion was not expired, the board of District B must affirmatively meet to vote on his admission and ideally should seek the permission of the board that expelled him before doing so.  A phone call to District B would have tipped off District A as to the residency issue, and certainly would have alerted District A to the expulsion.

The safeguards suggested above are true for all students, not just secondary students and not just those involved in athletics.  However, the IHSAA does intend to make a checklist available to member schools to try to decrease the number of incidents of ineligible students competing in varsity competitions.

 

 

 


 

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Last Updated ( Thursday, 27 December 2007 )