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With each passing day January comes a little closer, and for Lake Tahoe School eighth-grader Sophie Breider, that means it’s looking less and less like she’ll get to play volleyball with her friends at Incline Middle School when the season starts in 2009.
Thanks to a Washoe County School District regulation discovered earlier this year —WCSD administrative regulation 5117.1, which reads: “Students who are enrolled in nonpublic schools or who are home schooled may enroll in classes or extracurricular activities, excluding sports, in Washoe County Schools ...”— private school athletes are no longer allowed to participate in middle school athletics.
The rule went unenforced in previous years and LTS students competed on middle school teams.
School district sources say this is to protect public-school students from being cut in favor of a child not attending that school.
Lake Tahoe School Headmaster Steve McKibben contends the district’s interpretation of the regulation is flawed.
For Breider, though, the regulation came as a shock to a player who was a stand-out defensively for the IMS team in the 2008 season as a seventh-grader.
“First of all, I was very disappointed and shocked, we had a great rapport with the middle school, and I just love the sport,” Breider said. “I felt like it was kind of both of our team, I felt like we had just as much of a right to play on it .”
Breider’s mother, Heidi, a teacher at LTS, said the ruling was especially disappointing because it was Sophie Breider’s final season as a middle-schooler.
“Well I was extremely disappointed when I heard she couldn’t play,” Heidi Breider said. “Some of her best friends play over there, and it seemed especially disappointing given this was her eighth grade year, which is important.”
McKibben said he’s refrained from hiring a lawyer yet and making the athletics issue a legal matter, but he would like to sit down with Washoe County School District legal counsel to find an answer to the problem.
Paul Dugan, school district superintendent, has said previously Washoe will stand by its regulation.
Sophie Breider said she’s heard from some friends at Incline Middle School — some whom have started a petition for the reinstatement of LTS athletes— and hopes the issue reaches a speedy resolution with Lake Tahoe students in IMS uniforms.
“Even if it doesn’t change before I go to high school, I definitely hope (the regulation) does change,” Sophie Breider said. “I hope I can play, but I hope other kids can have the chance to play and I’ll be happy when that comes.”
In the interim Lake Tahoe School started a cross country team for fall competition, but McKibben said the school doesn’t have the enrollment to support teams in other sports— such as volleyball and basketball — in which LTS students have previously participated.
Thanks to a Washoe County School District regulation discovered earlier this year —WCSD administrative regulation 5117.1, which reads: “Students who are enrolled in nonpublic schools or who are home schooled may enroll in classes or extracurricular activities, excluding sports, in Washoe County Schools ...”— private school athletes are no longer allowed to participate in middle school athletics.
The rule went unenforced in previous years and LTS students competed on middle school teams.
School district sources say this is to protect public-school students from being cut in favor of a child not attending that school.
Lake Tahoe School Headmaster Steve McKibben contends the district’s interpretation of the regulation is flawed.
For Breider, though, the regulation came as a shock to a player who was a stand-out defensively for the IMS team in the 2008 season as a seventh-grader.
“First of all, I was very disappointed and shocked, we had a great rapport with the middle school, and I just love the sport,” Breider said. “I felt like it was kind of both of our team, I felt like we had just as much of a right to play on it .”
Breider’s mother, Heidi, a teacher at LTS, said the ruling was especially disappointing because it was Sophie Breider’s final season as a middle-schooler.
“Well I was extremely disappointed when I heard she couldn’t play,” Heidi Breider said. “Some of her best friends play over there, and it seemed especially disappointing given this was her eighth grade year, which is important.”
McKibben said he’s refrained from hiring a lawyer yet and making the athletics issue a legal matter, but he would like to sit down with Washoe County School District legal counsel to find an answer to the problem.
Paul Dugan, school district superintendent, has said previously Washoe will stand by its regulation.
Sophie Breider said she’s heard from some friends at Incline Middle School — some whom have started a petition for the reinstatement of LTS athletes— and hopes the issue reaches a speedy resolution with Lake Tahoe students in IMS uniforms.
“Even if it doesn’t change before I go to high school, I definitely hope (the regulation) does change,” Sophie Breider said. “I hope I can play, but I hope other kids can have the chance to play and I’ll be happy when that comes.”
In the interim Lake Tahoe School started a cross country team for fall competition, but McKibben said the school doesn’t have the enrollment to support teams in other sports— such as volleyball and basketball — in which LTS students have previously participated.
