STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (WTAJ)– The largest school district in the Centre County area was found to have violated Title IX when it failed to accommodate female middle school students that wanted to play ice hockey, a federal judge ruled.
On Thursday, three middle school girls won in their lawsuit against State College Area School District over not helping to accommodate them to play ice hockey after their team was disbanded.
“This matter is heated,” Chief Judge Matthew W. Brann of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania wrote in his opinion. The girls’ preliminary injunction was also approved by the judge, something that only happens under certain circumstances.
The school district was ordered to make sure that the girls would be on an ice hockey club team, even if a second one would need to be sponsored. It was also ordered that the district would need to take action in recruiting female students and promoting female participation in its ice hockey club program.
In a response to WTAJ, the district said that it was currently looking over the court’s decision and that it will do what needs to be done to ensure Title IX requirements are met.
“We are in the process of reviewing the Court’s decision, and the district will evaluate all of its options going forward,” SCASD Director of Communications Chris Rosenblum said. “We have always strived to comply with Title IX requirements by providing equal opportunities for female students, and we will take the necessary steps to continue fulfilling that commitment.”
There was a total of 34 SCASD students, including four girls, who tried out for the hockey team in April. When there was another round of tryouts later that month only three girls attended. When the final roster was announced, 19 students had made it, but none were female, the 22-page opinion read.
The district’s parent-run booster club gave multiple reasons why, such as a lack of rink time, and claimed that it would be a safety issue to have more than 19 players on the ice. Money isn’t part of the issue, as another team would have no “adverse financial impact” on the district, the paperwork reads.
In May, the parents told the district they were able to create a team, find coaches and even separate rink time. However, the parents said that for “no specific reason,” it was rejected by the district.
The parents argued that the district did not match the interest for ice hockey in the district, but SCASD is saying that they did when the female students were given the chance to try out. Brann sided with the parents.
“Merely allowing female athletes to show up for co-ed tryouts is not enough to satisfy Title IX,” Brann wrote in regards to the tryouts. “It is clear that there the District was willing to create a large single team with many roster slots, but none of those slots were offered to interested females.”
The district could have met the girls’ interest if they were offered to practice with the team, allow them to fill other spots by rotating them in, or even hold coaching sessions so they can get on the ice.
“Ignoring the female students’ stated interest in being accommodated while seeming to relinquish this responsibility to a parent-run booster club is not supportive; it is the opposite,” Brann wrote.
A status report detailing steps the district took to comply with the order will be filed in 45 days.
“The great ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky famously said that ‘you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,’ Brann wrote in his conclusion. “His quote assumes that everyone has the opportunity to play, though, and in this case, the Plaintiffs have not been given the opportunity to which they are afforded under Title IX.”
Brann was also very regretful that the incident needed judicial intervention for a solution.
“For the sake of the State College community’s wellbeing, the Court encourages all players in this case, literally and figuratively, to consider working together in resolving this matter going forward,” Brann wrote.