Lawsuit against AHSAA dismissed, prompting alternative actions
By TIM GAYLE
A Montgomery judge earlier this week dismissed a lawsuit against the Alabama High School Athletic Association regarding its transfer rule, prompting the local attorney who filed the suit to consider other alternatives.
“I take exception with what happened,” Michael Kidd said. “But I don’t know if it’s worth my time to pursue it at the appellate level. What I’m doing, instead of spending my time hitting my head against a brick wall, is I have started a petition through change.org and we’ve started a Facebook page to see how many parents I can get to sign this petition to ask for change brought about by the legislature.
“I think if there’s going to be any kind of meaningful change that’s going to be beneficial to parents and students, it’s going to have to come through the legislature and not through the court system.”
On Thursday, the AHSAA released a statement on Tuesday’s decision, noting “this ruling follows a long line of court cases over five decades that have consistently held that AHSAA member schools have the right to create their eligibility rules and the AHSAA executive staff and governing bodies have the right to enforce those rules.”
“We are very pleased with the court’s decision and appreciate its careful review of the facts and law,” said AHSAA executive director Heath Harmon.
The AHSAA response missed the point, however, in that Kidd’s suit never questioned the organization’s eligibility rules, but rather inconsistencies that have arose over the years as rules and sports have been modified and expanded. The AHSAA only allows transfers for athletes who make a bona fide move into a new school district -- students who don’t make the bona fide move have to sit out a year -- but those transfer rules do not apply to cheerleaders, creating what Kidd felt was an unequal application that violated both Title IX and the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.
Montgomery County circuit judge J.R. Gaines listened to Kidd’s argument, then issued a temporary restraining order on Sept. 5 preventing the AHSAA from enforcing its transfer rule until arguments were heard from both sides.
“What my case came down to, and what (AHSAA attorneys) argued, was that cheerleading was just not a sport,” Kidd said, “which I thought was the most ridiculous argument that I’ve heard in a courtroom in a long time. In addition to that, they were trying to argue that even if it was a Title IX violation, that the discrimination had to be intentional. ”
Kidd’s suit involved an athlete transferring from Prattville High to Marbury High. The athlete, under current AHSAA rules, would have to sit out a year despite Autauga County’s decision permitting school choice, which allows students to transfer without penalty.
“I’m really committed to seeing this through with the legislators,” Kidd said. “The more I have talked to them, the more receptive they have been. If we do go to a full school choice situation where kids can go where they want to go to school, eventually you’re going to have to address athletics. If our legislators have reached the opinion that kids should be able to go where they have the best opportunity academically, why would that not include athletics?”
Kidd’s Facebook page is entitled “Alabama Citizens for the Advancement of High School Athletics” and it invites parents to share their issues with the AHSAA transfer rules and sign a petition to get the Alabama Legislature involved in the administration of the organization.
“The main thing is for there to be some supervision (of the AHSAA), similar to what they’ve set up in Florida,” Kidd said. “The Alabama High School Athletic Association wouldn’t be under control of the State Board of Education but they would be under the State Board of Education’s supervision.
“And I’m asking for them to step in and come up with something with the transfer rule that would coincide with the state’s initiative for school choice.”
Kidd also wants the AHSAA to be subject to state audits every two years.