Sports

Beachwood Parents Intend to Appeal OHSAA Ruling

Two girls' basketball players ruled ineligible for one year; hearing to be held Thursday

The parents of two girls basketball players are expected to appeal the decision.

Tim Stried, spokesperson for the Ohio High School Athletic Association, said Friday that the families have told the OHSAA they intended to appeal the ruling that the two girls are ineligible to play until next Jan. 31.

The appeals board is expected to review the cases next Thursday and announce their decisions by Friday.

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Stried said that in this case, the ineligibility ruling was due to inaccurate statements from the students’ change of residency forms submitted to the OHSAA.

He added that representatives from Beachwood High School contacted the OHSAA after they were made aware of the discrepancies. 

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“I believe the two students began playing for this team when they should not have been,” said Stried. "Participating in athletics is a privilege, not a right."

"I think that the important thing to note here is that the OHSAA has different requirements specifically for students who are transferring from another school," Beachwood City Schools' spokesperson Doug Levin said. 

The school district is not disputing the ruling, Stried said, and no one from the school faces disciplinary action by the OHSAA. 

"The punishment was handed down to the students because the parents falsified the documents," said Levin.

Under OHSAA bylaw, students who transfer schools are ineligible to play sports for one year unless they meet one of 12 exceptions. One of those is “bona fide change of residency,” meaning the student moves from one district to another.

“It’s been a longtime bylaw that our schools asked for and adopted. That bylaw exists so that students cannot school hop and go from school to school to school and be eligible to play right away,” said Stried.

Beachwood City Schools does not accept open enrollment and Levin said that the two student meet, and have met, the school's residency requirements.

The school is not authorized to release the names of the students involved.

Beachwood girls' basketball coach Melvin Burke started this year at the school at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year after leaving a job at Lutheren High School East. Four girls who played for him there – including top scorer Amber Bogard, who has not played in the last few games – transferred from Lutheran East for the 2010-2011 school year. 

Burke said Wednesday that the team is persevering in Bogard's absence, and he expects her to return to the team this season. He did not say why she has not played, but she was in the stands at Wednesday's game and was recognized for Senior Night.

Beachwood Patch sports reporters Chris Sweeney and Barry Goodrich contributed to this article.


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