Outside the Lines: Who's Eligible to Play High School Sports?
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Outside the Lines: Who's Eligible to Play High School Sports? | ||||
Outside The Lines - Who's Eligible to Play High School Sports?
Bob Ley, host - Chances are you were part of a high School
sporting event this early October weekend, either as a player or as a
spectator. And depending upon where you live, that game might have
included a student who is Home Schooled, a youngster who does not attend
classes with his or her teammates, but does participate with them in
sports.
Now there are more Home Schooled students than ever before in the
United States, by some estimates more than 1.5 million children, a 30
percent increase in the past nine years.
The Home School movement was born of religious and philosophical
objections with public education. But it has grown with other motivations
for Parents to teach their own children.
Questions about the quality of such an education are met with
studies that cite Home Schooled students outscoring public and private
School students on standardized tests, such as the SAT. Academic skills
apParently can be nurtured at Home. But athletic skills in a team sport
require coaching and competition.
State laws on Home Schooling vary widely, as do athletic
regulations, leaving many Home School athletes with a skill and limited
options to pursue it. Kelly Neal examines the problem for one family that
is balancing the belief in Home Schooling against the desire to play.
Kelly Neal, ESPN Correspondent - In rural southern
Illinois where family values run strong, unusual attention is being paid
to two brothers, Seth and Saul Huber. Seth was last year's most valuable
player for the Hillsboro High School Hilltoppers.
Unidentified Male - Are you guys ready? What time is it?
Unidentified Males - Game time!
Unidentified Male - 1, 2, 3...
Unidentified Males - Toppers!
Neal - But the Huber brothers will not be playing in
today's game or in any game this season because of a controversial new
ruling, which now makes it difficult for children who are Home Schooled to
play on their local high School team.
Are you angry?
Seth Huber, Home Schooled Student - I'm not angry. I just...
Neal - Why not?
S. Huber - I don't know. It's not going to help to be angry about it.
Neal - Does it make you angry that they can't play with you?
Matt Smith, Hillsboro High School - Yeah. I'm sure a lot of guys
are angry. But we've just got to overcome it the best we can.
Erik Bevers, Hillsboro High School - I'm upset because they've
played with me for a long time. I've played against them too when we were
littler. And they're really good kids. And they're taking it out like
they're Home Schooled kids that don't do anything.
Cindi Huber, Home School Parent - Why don't you go ahead and work
on your government right now. And, Saul, I'd like you to do a little in
biology.
Neal - The Huber brothers have always been educated
at home by their Parents, graduating from the couch to the kitchen table.
Today's lessons are shared with front page news about their situation,
which essentially pits the public school system against Home Schoolers.
Last fall, the Illinois High School Association passed a measure
banning all Home Schooler from extracurricular activities, including
athletics. David Fry is the executive director of the IHSA.
Fry - If this high School is not a good enough place to go to
school all day and get all the rest of your education, and since
participation in athletics is a privilege, not a protected right under the
constitution, then if you're not going to go here, you shouldn't play for
us and be our representative either.
Neal - Hillsboro High School Principal Larry Ackerman was a
staunch supporter of the ban.
Ackerman - If there's four Home Schooled kids starting on the
soccer team, there's obviously four of my kids who are regular attenders
who are not starting, who would be starting if it weren't for Home
Schooled kids.
Neal - Don Dillion, principal of neighboring Greenville High
School, liked the idea because it closed a potential loophole.
Don Dillion, Principal, Greenville High School - Some very
talented basketball players could theoretically say, "We're going to go to
school at blank high school. We're going to play for them. We're not
going to go to school. But we're going to play for them," and in effect
never attend a day of school, never have attended a day of school in that
place.
And if the local people were basically greedy enough to want to
have a state champion out of that, it would really not be representative
of that school and what it's about.
Unidentified Female - OK, those of you that were absent
yesterday...
Ackerman - My high school kids come to school every day, have to
be in school, have to pass classes in order to participate. I've never
heard of a Home Schooled parent or Home Schooled student being declared
ineligible by his parents.
Neal - The IHSA's decision to ban all Home Schoolers encountered a
setback when Fry was confronted by long-time Illinois State Representative
Mary Lou Cowlishaw.
Cowlishaw - During that conversation, I think he came to realize
that I meant business. I don't want the IHSA to create any rule. I want
the local elected Board of Education to make that decision for itself.
Neal - Pressure from Cowlishaw forced the IHSA to reevaluate its
position.
Fry - It was clear that the language of the first proposal made it
simply illegal. It was assuming authority for the association that is
exclusively the prerogative of local boards of education under the
statutes.
Unidentified Male - Wait, wait, wait, hold it, hold it, hold it...
Neal - The past spring, the IHSA amended its bylaw and now
empowered local school boards to make their own decisions regarding Home
Schooled students who want to play sports.
If the Hubers wanted to play soccer, they'd have to satisfy these
three IHSA requirements. The student must be enrolled in high school,
must take a minimum of 20 credit hours in a program approved by the
school, and must be granted credit by the school for their work.
Fry - It strikes me as really a fairly simple and pretty common
sense kind of thing to do.
Neal - But the Hillsboro School District and other school
districts in Illinois didn't find how to interpret the IHSA's mandate
simple at all.
Ackerman - It's not a question of the parents submitting to the
bylaws. It's a question of the school district accepting the bylaws as
the fact that they're going to accept Home Schooled kids.
Neal - Why is Seth Huber not playing soccer right now
at Hillsboro?
Don Burton, School Superintendent, Hillsboro District - Well, the
best way I can answer that is simply to say that we do not have a policy
-- this board of education, this school district does not have a policy
which basically allows or meets the guidelines of the IHSA to where they
can play.
Neal - The biggest stumbling block, according to
Hillsboro Superintendent Don Burton, was the last sentence of an IHSA
letter he received in August, which read - "Schools that choose to adopt
this policy are essentially saying that the Home School students are now
their students and the school has determined that the appropriate
placement for the student is in the Home School."
Burton - And that's where I really draw the line. I don't believe
in many cases that that is true.
C. Huber - I don't claim that it's the best way for everyone. I
would challenge any of you to say that that was not the best placement for
my children.
Neal - At a well-attended school board meeting, Huber defended
Home Schooling, the way she has educated all four of her children, two of
whom are now in college.
Burton - I don't like taking something away from a student. And I
feel like we've done this in this situation.
I do think that there will be other cases that arise. I do think that
sooner or later, I think the state legislature is going to have to deal
with the Home Schooling concept. And I think the IHSA will want to review
their bylaw as well.
Neal - The Home Schooling controversy may ultimately
be decided here, at the Illinois State Capitol, in the form of House Bill
3288. State Representative Cowlishaw, who introduced the bill, hopes to
abolish the IHSA's new bylaw and says the bill could be voted on as early
as mid-November.
Meanwhile, Home Schooled athletes such as Seth Huber can only
watch from the sidelines and wonder what their lost season might have been
like. For Outside The Lines, I'm Kelly Neal.
Ley - Do Home Schooled athletes have the right to play on their
local high school sports teams? When we return, I'll talk with a
congressman who supports Home Schooling, an educator who believes Home
Schooled athletes have no place on interscholastic teams, and the father
of a basketball player who left Home Schooling to win a college basketball
scholarship.
Ley - The rights of Home Schooled athletes against the interests
of public education. To discuss it, we welcome from Ft. Wayne, Indiana,
Congressman Mark Souder. He serves on the Education and the Workforce
Committee.
From Chicago, Larry Janes, an educational consultant who has
served as a superintendent in his career. And from Memphis, Danny Loe,
whose son Jonathan left Home Schooling for public School to win a
basketball scholarship. And Jonathan Loe this past week accepted a
scholarship to Ole Miss.
Congressman, why should parents who've made an affirmative decision
to not put their kids in public school, to Home School them, have the
right to have those same kids play on public school teams?
Rep. Mark Souder, Education & Workforce Committee - They
pay the principal's salary. They pay the coach's salary. They pay for
building the stadium. They pay for the uniforms. It seems like they
could play. If you're going to pay, you ought to be able to play.
It's an element of fairness. Illegal immigrants are -- and should
be -- allowed to participate in education even though they don't pay
taxes. Kids with disabilities in IDEA are allowed into private schools
and schools of their choice and can still be involved in public school
activities.
It's a matter of fairness. You shouldn't be discriminated against
because of your religious and political views.
Ley - Mr. Janes, is it that simple?
Larry Janes, Education Consultant - I think it's far more complex
than that. I think it's a Pandora's box.
Ley - How so?
Janes - Well, sir, we have very little oversight to the Home
Schooling. Various states deal with them in different ways. There are
about 20 states now that somehow legislatively or otherwise recognize the
right to play.
In our particular state, once we enroll the child, which is
required under the law, then that student will have to have a comparable
program because those courses count toward graduation. We have a
recognized state board of education program in Illinois that is strictly
correspondence.
It does not parrot exactly the standards of this state, which we
are required to follow. It creates basically a two-track diplomaing
system.
Ley - So you're concerned about the oversight of Home Schooling.
Let's turn for a second to one of the few Home School athletes who has
really made a name for himself, in fact the only one to our knowledge in
the National Football League. His name is Jason Taylor.
He plays for the Miami Dolphins. He's a defense end. He attended
Akron University.
And when he was a high school student in greater Pittsburgh, he
was allowed to play high school sports in a public school environment. We
talked to him recently about this entire issue.
Jason Taylor, Dolphins defensive end - There's no reason why they
shouldn't be allowed to play. It's not like we're weird or whatever, just
a little different. We just do it a different way. And there's no reason
why they shouldn't be able to participate.
They pay taxes, school tax, the local tax and everything else.
There's no reason why they can't play sports.
Ley - Here's the principle, Mr. Janes, his first words involved
taxes. In fact, talking to a number people, that's the first words out of
their mouth, taxes, we pay the way.
Janes - I pay taxes for a lot of things for which I receive no
benefit. I pay taxes so we have an appropriate society, both
economically, morally, and the other fabrics of society that go with that.
I don't get the benefit of everything I pay for.
Ley - Let me turn to Mr. Loe for just a moment. Your son, skilled
basketball player. You decided for his senior year of high school to
re-enroll him in public education. You had your choice of high schools,
did you not? You could shop for a School.
Danny Loe, parent of former Home Schooler - Well, in a way that's
true. We could. In Memphis city schools, you don't have to live in a
particular district and kind of attend any of the programs.
The program we eventually chose, Bartlett High School, you have to
live in the district. So we moved to that district to be able to attend
that school.
Ley - Mr. Janes, you worry that that's illustrative of what could
evolve into a problem.
Janes - We know that could be a problem, sir. Right now in some
of our states, we're not even permitted to monitor a Home School
whatsoever. In Florida, the association cut an agreement down there with
the Home Schoolers Association because of legislative pressure. And
they're on the honor system.
And I've taken grades for Home Schoolers off the back of envelopes
that they wrote while standing in my office. The honor system? I don't
want that. I hope Illinois doesn't go to that if they legislate it.
Ley - Congressman, I suspect you disagree.
Souder - It's just ridiculous. I mean, we have all kinds of
problems with public education and all sorts of education. And we're
trying to address those problems.
The one group that seems to be succeeding are Home Schoolers. Not
only are their test scores 10 percent higher than public schools, last
year they had a higher and a record number of Home School students take
the scores. And they went up.
Rather than criticize Home Schoolers, we need to be working with
teachers and schools all over America to get public school education up.
Now if a problem starts to occur, then we have Stanford (ph) tests, Iowa
tests, PSAT, SAT, ACT. If a problem was really there, let's address it.
But don't smear Home Schoolers because some people are upset that they
aren't in the public school system.
Ley - Mr. Loe, you held your son back, did you not, one year, your
wife and you, schooling him at Home?
Loe - Yes, that's correct. In the eighth grade, we held him back
so that he would be able to attend school at home for 12 years and then go
to a public school if necessary.
And let me say, too, that I think the issue is not where they attend
school. The issue -- the ultimate issue for everyone involved should be
the education of the child.
And I think -- I agree with the congressman that if you test, if
you have national standardized tests, and Home Schoolers pass those tests,
and even in a lot of cases exceed the public school children or private
school children, then I don't really see that that's the issue.
The question then becomes do we want to protect the bureaucracy,
or do we want to educate the children?
Ley - OK, Mr. Janes, I'm going to promise you a chance to respond
to that and the entire issue of how well kids do Home Schooled on
standardized tests when we continue with Congressman Mark Souder and Larry
Janes and Danny Loe considering the rights of Home Schooled athletes to
compete in public school.
Ley - We continue now with Congressman Mark Souder, Larry Janes,
and Danny Loe considering Home School athletes and their rights as
athletes in public education. And Mr. Janes, I promise you a chance to
address the argument that is made that standardized tests prove that Home
Schooled kids do very well academically.
Janes - When we look at standardized tests, first we have to look
at the total population that takes that test. And regretfully, when we look at
the ACT in Illinois, 70 percent of public school students take that test.
But I would assuredly be correct if I'd said not all Home Schoolers take
that test at that percentage rate.
Ley - What about the SAT, though? Virtually, everybody takes
that.
Janes - SAT, we'll be taking that. But again, do Home Schoolers
take it unless they're intending to go to college?
Souder - If you want to make that argument to prove your case, in
other words this is an attempt to deny students something that their
parents have paid for, to participate in joint efforts, restrict their
religious and philosophical rights of parents on the basis of no evidence
-- in other words, it's not clear that 100 percent of Home Schoolers -- we
don't know that either. But before you make an assertion, you ought to
check the assertion.
Janes - Well, I would like to suggest that when you can't even
register them legally within your own state, that's very difficult to do,
Congressman. So maybe we have something inherent to Illinois.
I don't believe that however. I've studied all the 50 states'
stats on their laws.
Souder - There also has...
Janes - They vary tremendously.
Souder - ... On the illegal immigrants, the children which we
believe should be covered in education, for example there we don't even
know where their parents are, but we don't make sweeping judgments about
those parents.
Here what we do know is that record numbers of Home School kids
are taking the tests. And they're outperforming public school students.
Ley - Mr. Loe, let me ask you if I could, what did the college
scouts tell you about your son's chance to get a Division One scholarship
if he continued to play in Home School leagues?
Loe - Well, the issue as far as competition goes is that there's
not enough data on Home School athletics competition. Although there are
some very good athletes playing Home School basketball, which is a sport
my son plays. For instance, Kevin Johnson, who is at Tulsa University
now, a Division One School, was also a Home Schooler.
They told us that they needed to be able to rate him. They needed
him to play against consistent competition.
However, there were three or four schools that offered him a
scholarship because we were also considering letting him go ahead and
graduate early. So there were three or four colleges based on his ACT
scores, his academics, and his basketball abilities, they were willing to
offer him a scholarship and bypass this year.
Ley - But you're putting him in public school to increase the
visibility even though he's already accepted a scholarship.
Loe - Well, we're putting him in public school primarily to hone
his schools. The coach, Huby Smith (ph), at Bartlett High School is
widely known and is one of the best coaches in the state as far as
teaching fundamental basketball. And his program is considered to be a
college level program.
Ley - Congressman, let me ask you if I could bring up the concern that has
been raised about ringers, about Home School fraud with athletes. There
has been so much academic fraud in collegiate sports and questions about
parochial and public high schools recruiting athletes in the past. Is
that a legitimate concern?
Souder - Several things. First off, in Indiana, ringers are a big
concern in high school basketball. And clearly, as we move to variations
of public school choice -- desegregation, charter schools, and other
things -- we're going to have to address the local residency questions
separate from school registration questions as was the case there in
Memphis.
The other question on ringers, if we start to see a problem where
we really see an upsurge in Home Schoolers who appear to be trying to
dodge the athletic requirements, then that school district should
aggressively address that through the standard tests that are already
there, Iowa, Stanford, PSAT, ACT and SAT.
Ley - Congressman, who should make the decision here? Should it
be a state law, local school board, federal involvement?
Souder - Obviously, it should first be local schools, then the
state. As the federal share increases, there is more pressure on the
federal government. We clearly had to do that for handicapped students.
We're clearly having to do that for Hispanic students and others that have
been discriminated against in some states.
Ley - Mr. Janes, are you comfortable with local control on this
issue?
Janes - No, I'm not. I'm very uncomfortable with a lot of this
because quite frankly we have no way at this time of validating all such
students in our particular state. And there are other states that face
that same dilemma.
Ley - OK, we'll have to leave it right there, gentlemen. Thank
you very much. Thank you to Congressman Mark Souder, to Larry Janes, and
to Danny Loe.
Next, the fallout on Olympic drugs and the personal side of
coaching when we continue Outside The Lines.
Ley - The legacy of the Sydney Olympic games, for Americans at
least, may be the criticism and the scrutiny that U.S. drug testing
policies received from the rest of the sporting world. Last week, we
examined questions surrounding the unique way the U.S. disciplines
athletes who do test positive. And the reaction to our e-mail inbox,
including this observation - "I realize that ratings are always important
to programming executives, and that you as "journalists" have a
responsibility to report the news. However, as part of the viewing
public, I implore you to report it both accurately and fairly to those
individuals that you report on.
"While I'm not a conspiracy theorist, the timing of the C.J.
Hunter announcement seems a little suspect. Why is it news now when it
was not news then?"
And from Spartanburg, South Carolina - "I often wonder how blind
people can be. Since the Atlanta pep rally in '96, I've been astounded at
how these sprinters and track athletes could strut across any bodybuilding
stage. As a drug-free power lifter and holder of several state records, I
have slaved away in the weight room for decades and don't have shoulders
like some of these track stars. It's like watching WWF and assuming that
Hulk Hogan got that big from wrestling."
Those comments sent to us online at ESPN.com. The keyword to type
in, otlweekly, and you'll be taken to our site that includes for the many
requests we receive for copies a complete collection of streaming video
and transcripts of all our Sunday morning programs. That's also where you
can send your e-mail comments and suggestions to our address,
otlweekly@espn.com.
Ley - Tuesday evening at 7 Eastern, Outside The Lines looks at the
side of coaching the public rarely sees, the personal and private side
full of sacrifice. Included, there's a roundtable I conducted with
coaches Jim Calhoun, Mike Jarvis and Bill Curry about the
issue of what they've missed in their family lives to build their careers.
Unidentified Male - My deepest regret is the fact that I missed so
much of our children while I was helping raise other people's children.
Unidentified Male - Have I missed on baseball games and other
things? All of us have, without question. But my wife travels as much as
she can to games. And we've tried to make our family a part of it.
Ley - Was there ever a point when any of you wondered will I get
that job -- capital J -- the one that will define my career? Is this
worth it? Am I beating my head against the wall?
Unidentified Male - And I thought I was going to be the head coach
at Harvard. And luckily for me, I didn't get the job. But at that time,
it was the most disappointing day in my life. And I remember crying on my
bed, and my wife coming in and saying, "Something better is going to come
along. Don't worry about it."
Ley - Tuesday Outside The Lines, "The Coaching Life." That's
Tuesday at 7 Eastern, Outside The Lines directly after "SportsCenter."
Our ESPN NFL game this Sunday evening, one of the great stories in
the league this year, the Baltimore Ravens taking on Jacksonville at 8:30
Eastern right after "NFL Primetime" at 7:30.
Another edition of "SportsCenter" is coming along right here in 30
minutes. "NFL Countdown" 60 minutes away.
We will see you next Sunday morning Outside The Lines. Now to the
ESPN Zone in Times Square for Dick Schaap and "The Sports Reporters."
I'm Bob Ley. Thanks for joining us.
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Bob Ley looks at the homeschooled athlete and their right to play high school sports.