Change slights private schools

Last spring, the Ohio High School Athletic Association came under fire for strict transfer guidelines that were adopted in August 2001 to stop the problem of student athletes jumping between schools to play multiple sports.
The revised rule requires that any student switching schools without moving into a new district cannot participate in extracurricular activities for one calendar year.
For example, if a Boardman freshman decided to attend Mooney as a sophomore, that student would not be eligible until 12 months had passed.
An exception exists -- if the superintendents at both schools feel it's in the best interest for a student to transfer without penalty, the one-year wait can be waived.
Initial impetus
A few months back, a state representative from Dayton took the OHSAA to task, claiming the transfer rule was too stringent.
A compromise has been reached and private schools aren't overwhelmed with it.
The OHSAA's response, in a vote that passed by a 430-226 margin this week, has been to relax the transfer rule.
Beginning Nov. 1, students at a public or private school "shall be entitled to one transfer back to the public school district within which the student's parent residence is located regardless of from where the student is transferring. However, if the student utilizes this exception, the student will no longer be able to utilize the superintendent's agreement exception."
With the rule, students at private schools such as Mooney, Ursuline and Warren JFK can transfer one time to the public school in their parents' or legal guardians' residence district.
According to the OHSAA, the approved amendment "supports the concept that was advanced by the state legislature during the past school year."
Hardship appears to be the motivation behind the change. Under the current rule, if a family can no longer afford tuition to a private school, a student transferring back to public school would not be eligible for extracurricular activities for one year.
Reaction
Don Bucci, Cardinal Mooney High's athletic director, understands the motivation for the change, but he's surprised that OHSAA has approved a rule that doesn't treat public and parochial schools equally.
Bucci estimates that 15 percent of Ohio's schools are private and expects a challenge case to arise somewhere down the road.
"Our concerns are that parochial schools don't have tax districts," Bucci said. "[Because the new rule] doesn't work the other way, that's where it's going to be challenged."
Bucci said the new rule permits a Mooney student to transfer back to the school district where the parents reside without a wait, but a student coming from a public school to Mooney still has to sit a year.
"In all the years I've been involved with the OHSAA, regulations that were put in were the same for public and parochial, and they would go out of their way to point it out.
"This is definitely a time that I don't see that," Bucci said. "They're talking tax districts, not school districts, and that's where the confusion comes in."
Jim Maughan, Ursuline athletic director, declined to discuss specifics, but said, "If it's a one-way street, I'm sure the group being one-wayed will respond."
Clarification
By a vote of 592 to 61, the OHSAA clarified the transfer rule to state that high school eligibility is determined on the first day of the new school year except when the student participates in a contest held before school starts.
For instance, football, volleyball, soccer and golf seasons all begin locally in August while most schools don't open until after Labor Day. The rule changes clarifies that eligibility is established when the athlete takes the court or field.
XTom Williams is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write him at williams@vindy.com.