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Appeal planned in eligibility case
by Jule Hubbard
An attorney for the N.C. High School Athletic Association on Friday gave notice of plans to appeal a judge’s decision in the athletic eligibility case of North Wilkes High School senior Ramon Andino to the N.C. Court of Appeals.
Attorney Jim Maxwell of Durham plans to ask the appeals court to overturn Judge Abraham P. Jones’ issuance of a preliminary injunction requiring that the NCHSAA, Wilkes Board of Education and Dr. Steve Laws, Wilkes school superintendent, reinstate Andino’s eligibility for the rest of the basketball season.
As a result of Jones’ decision, Andino played for North Wilkes in his first game of the season Thursday night.
Attorney Fred Johnson, representing the Wilkes school board and Laws, said the appeals court could temporarily lift Jones’ preliminary injunction until it rules on the appeal. Johnson said the appeal would be filed on behalf of the NCHSAA, the Wilkes school board and Laws.
The plans to appeal were announced after Jones denied Johnson’s motions asking the judge to reconsider and stay the preliminary injunction he issued Wednesday in favor of Andino. Jones responded to the Johnson’s motion in Chatham County Superior Court, where he presided Friday.
Johnson said Jones’ issuance of the preliminary injunction letting Andino play surprised him because it reversed the judge’s Jan. 11 conditional ruling in favor of the NCHSAA, Wilkes school board and Laws.
On Jan. 11, Jones said the NCHSAA consistently interpreted the association’s “eight-semester rule” when it used that as a basis for ruling Andino ineligible to practice and play on the North Wilkes basketball team this year. Jones deferred a final ruling for 10 days to give attorney Richard “Gus” Gusler more time to research issues and show the NCHSAA was inconsistent in how it applied the eight-semester rule.
The eight semester rule states, “No student may be eligible to participate at the high school level for a period lasting longer than eight consecutive semesters, beginning with the student’s first entry into grade nine or participation on a high school team, whichever occurs first….”
The “maximum number of seasons” rule states, “No student may be approved for a high school contest if he has taken part in contests during four separate seasons in that sport (one season per year, whether the sport is played in North Carolina or not). Playing as a member of a private or other non-member school team shall be deemed the same as playing (as) a member of a school team. Enforcement of this rule is to begin with entry into ninth grade, however….”
Johnson said it was pointed out in court again Friday that these rules don’t apply until a student enters ninth grade. The NCHSAA says it has consistently held the position that a semester when a student doesn’t play high school sports still counts as one of the student’s eight semesters of eligibility.
A lawsuit Gusler filed on Dec. 15 against the NCHSAA, Wilkes school board and Laws maintains Andino has athletic eligibility this year because he wasn’t on a high school team as a ninth-grader. Andino was in the ninth grade in Puerto Rico in 2005-06 but didn’t play basketball then because the public school he attended didn’t have a team. He played basketball in the 10th and 11th grades at a private school in Puerto Rico.
Jones said the eight-semester rule gave preferential treatment to students who attended private schools. Jones also said that he sympathized with Andino because of poverty-related challenges he faced in Puerto Rico.
Gusler maintains that the wording in the eight-semester rule is ambiguous and needs to be clarified, particularly the portion that states, “beginning with the student’s first entry into grade nine or participation on a high school team, whichever occurs first.”
NCHSAA Deputy Director Que Tucker said in an interview this morning that the NCHSAA staff and attorneys would review wording in the rule to see if it could be stated more clearly.
Regardless of any lack of clarity, said Ms. Tucker, the association has applied the eight-semester rule consistently. She said this includes when school officials called with questions about the rule.
Wilkes school officials contacted the NCHSAA concerning Andino’s eligibility in October 2009 and received an opinion stating Andino wasn’t eligible under the eight-semester rule. According to court testimony, state law requires that public school systems that are members of the state association comply with the association’s interpretation of NCHSAA regulations.
Andino moved to the United States and Wilkes in time to attend the 2008-09 school year at North Wilkes, where he repeated the 11th grade and was a varsity basketball player. Darren Shumate, president of the North Wilkes Athletic Booster Club, has been Andino’s custodial guardian since he moved to Wilkes. Andino lives with the Shumate family.
The suit claims a current senior at West Wilkes High School was allowed to play football for West last year and this year even though he wasn’t eligible both years under the eight-semester rule. The suit said the West student, not named in the suit, played quarterback on a private school’s varsity team in Florida in the seventh through 10th grades (eight semesters) before coming to West.
The NCHSAA’s position is that a student’s playing time before the ninth grade doesn’t affect eligibility unless a student skips the ninth grade and goes from the eighth grade to the 10th grade.
In his order granting a preliminary injunction, Jones said the suit’s claims likely would be upheld in court. The suit asks that the defendants be ordered to pay Andino an amount in damages to be determined by the court and that they pay Andino’s attorney and suit fees. |
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