Over the past month, many San Juan Bautista community members
have come to the conclusion San Juan School is not compliant with
Title IX.
To set the record straight, Principal Joe Hudson, Athletic
Director Joyce Medeiros and flag football coach Scott Chew outlined
how the school and its sports program meet Title IX’s
requirements.
Schools all the way down to preschools have to be in accordance
with Title IX, the federal law that states,
”
No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be
excluded from participating in, be denied benefits of, or be
subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity
…
”
Over the past month, many San Juan Bautista community members have come to the conclusion San Juan School is not compliant with Title IX.
To set the record straight, Principal Joe Hudson, Athletic Director Joyce Medeiros and flag football coach Scott Chew outlined how the school and its sports program meet Title IX’s requirements.
Schools all the way down to preschools have to be in accordance with Title IX, the federal law that states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participating in, be denied benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity …”
There are three ways for schools to be compliant with Title IX. One is to determine whether or not the school offers male and female students equal opportunities to play sports. Medeiros added up the number of boys and girls playing on the school’s 14 teams in nine different sports. The number has to be comparable to the school’s overall male-female ratio.
For 2003-04, 86 girls, or 52 percent of those participating in sports, play sports with 78 boys, or 48 percent, playing. There are 71 girls, or 44 percent, in grades 6 through 8 at San Juan School and 92 boys, or 56 percent.
“We are in compliance with Title IX. That’s the bottom line of all this,” Medeiros said. “The key statistic is the actual number of participants, not the number of teams offered. If anything, our numbers are slanted toward the girls.”
Medeiros distributed a letter assuring staff that the school is in compliance with the law.
The school was accused of being in violation of Title IX when girls wanted to play on the boys flag football team. They were turned down, just like boys would have been, because the season had already started, school officials said.
Also, the San Benito Athletic League bylaws only allow boys to play on flag football teams. If a girl wanted to play, she would need prior approval by a majority vote of all athletic directors in the league.
“It’s the athletic directors in the league, not Joe or I, making the decisions,” Chew said.
Other schools in the league include Aromas School, Sacred Heart School, Southside School, Spring Grove School and Tres Pinos School, among others.
According to the league’s bylaws, flag football is a full-contact sport, Chew said. Athletic directors have to consider the safety and appropriateness of having boys and girls playing flag football together, he said.
If there was enough interest, San Juan School could start up a girls flag football team within the league, but they would have to add another boys team so the numbers would retain parity, Medeiros said.
Since there is no district funding to support the school’s sports teams, all needed money is fund raised, Hudson said. To add two more teams, the school would have to raise the extra money. Or, another girls sport would have to be dropped to make room for the flag football team.
“We just don’t have the funding or the money,” Hudson said.
Also, there would have to be other girls flag football teams in the league to play against, Medeiros said.
“Title IX was not written to make sports teams co-ed. It’s just about giving everyone an opportunity to play,” Medeiros said.
