JoAnn Bahr, Hartland, Wisconsin
My two daughters love to play field hockey. The program for the high school team they currently play on only has one regulation-size field and one three-fourths size practice field to support four teams with over 80 girls participating in the sport. Neither of the fields has a scoreboard. Field hockey has been a school-sponsored sport since 1984, but the high school has been ignoring program for years with poor maintenance of their fields, inadequate funding and no publicity. The team’s trophies aren’t even displayed in the school’s trophy case.
It had been rumored for over a year that the field hockey team would be losing their only regulation-size field because a private citizen wanted to donate over $1 million for an outdoor ice hockey rink to be built over the field hockey girls’ space. In May 2006, the local newspaper reported that the rumors were true and suggested the field hockey program should look into getting a loan to pay for the move.
This donation is in addition to the already existing $4 million indoor ice arena that this private citizen built in 1998. Neither the school or the donor have made any commitment to pay for a new field for the field hockey team but instead the school’s superintendent and athletic director have repeatedly suggested that the parents do some fund-raising to pay for a new field. My daughters and their teammates feels that, “it’s just not fair.”
I have been a strong advocate for the field hockey team and, along with other involved parents, have attended many school board meetings and meetings with the school’s administration and have written many letters to fight for fair treatment of our team. We were successful in getting a handful of the Varsity field hockey games scheduled at the school’s football stadium after complaining that our grass fields are in such terrible condition. The football field is a $500,000 artificial turf surface that was donated by a private football club from the area. The school is now backtracking and stating that there would be no more games scheduled on the turf because the field hockey girls have no right to play there. The school maintains that they have contracted with the private football club for their exclusive use of this donated field when the school’s football team is not using it.
As an attorney, I know that “it’s just not fair” translates into a violation of Title IX. I began to do some research and saw many red flags. When I asked the school who the Title IX Compliance Officer was, I was told it was the athletic director. A week later, I was told that the Title IX Compliance Officer was the District Superintendent. I gave the Superintendent the “Check It Out” manual from the National Women’s Law Center and several other information sheets on Title IX. Not only did he refuse to discuss these issues with me, he threatened to cut the field hockey program.
An anonymous person has filed a Title IX complaint against our school. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) determined that there is enough merit to proceed and began their investigation in August. The initial complaint only included allegations regarding field hockey but after additional documentation was given to the OCR, along with a lengthy phone interview, it was determined that the entire athletic program was going to be investigated.
The outdoor ice hockey rink still comes up occasionally on the School Board’s agenda, but no construction plan has been approved yet. Many of the discussions on the outdoor rink are in closed session and the school is not very forthcoming with the information. The high school superintendent and the school board stated at a recent meeting that they would not give any money to the field hockey program until they are told to do so by the federal government. If the team is displaced because of the new outdoor rink, the school still insists that they have no obligation to pay for a new field.
I know that it will not be an easy battle to keep our field from being taken over by someone waiving a large check at the high school’s administration, but I hope that the school will do the right thing and require the donor to pay for our displacement or pay for it with school funds if they accept this donation.
In the local community that I live, I am the one that people are blaming for “rocking the boat” and giving the high school a bad name. It has been very difficult to be an advocate for the field hockey team. There are many who vilify my actions but there are just as many who have been very supportive. Those encouraging words keep me going.
It is amazing to me that after 35 years, Title IX is still being ignored by high schools. My daughters are living through a tough reality lesson. They are very worried about what might happen to the sport that they love but I keep telling them that there are laws that will protect their rights and I keep re-reading the quote from the National Women’s Law Center, “With the law on your side, great things are possible”.