Oregon (state) Girls' (High School) Softball Team Files Title IX Lawsuit Against School District

[NotDeaf]

Interesting article about high school softball vs High School baseball and the difference in the field conditions and equipment that both teams use.

What are your thoughts about this article?

http://abcnews.go.com/US/oregon-girls-softball-team-files-title-ix-lawsuit/story?id=38192077

 

[SOFTBALLS14]

Yup!! A lot of Ohio Schools need to start getting Softball up to the same standards they have set for the baseball teams.

 

[mike_dyer]

Upper Sandusky high school provides the girls with 1 jersey. Period.

No helmet, no away jersey, no pants, no field.

The school let youth baseball put 3 fields on school property, the girls have to use one on them.

 

[FastBat]

Sad really and the pictures on the video do make me think this is a valid complaint. All they would have to do is share the facility equally? Why couldn't the softball players use the baseball field year round too? At least in the off months.

 

[lewam3]

Brownsfan and Chixdad have some experience with this locally, maybe they can chime in...
btw the parents of the young lady articulating their position in the video should be very proud.

 

[chixdad]

At Olmsted Falls the baseball field has has nice brick dugouts drainage and a fence around the field for years, the softball field was shared with girls soccer, it was their practice field. No fence around it we would go to the field and you could see that kids had driven on the dirt tearing it up. DD is a senior, during freshman year I talked to the AD and superintendent about the disparities, nothing changed. Last fall a friend talked to them and they told him no one had ever said anything before, he had the pictures and showed the School Board at a meeting. All of a sudden we are getting tweets about the softball field changes, we got dugouts, a fence and some half a--ed drainage, that is now settling and I hope no one hurts herself on it. A friend has said the soccer program has been the same was forever. So with everything going on about title ix the baseball varsity and softball varsity were scheduled to play at home on Weds, the boys jv were to go to Berea, next city away, but our fields were not ready, either of them. So they take the boys varsity on a bus and they play at Berea and the girls get nothing. How stupid are the powers to be here to allow that to happen after everything that's been going on here? Just asking for bigger trouble if you ask me.

 

[Rdsherman5]

If things (dugouts, turf fields, uniforms, practice gear, etc.) are purchased with private funds from an individual or group does that impact how Title IX comes into play? If I decide to buy jackets for the baseball players so they don't freeze during games in the early spring, am I then required to buy jackets for the softball team? If I decide I want to buy every softball player a new batting helmet each spring, am I then required to buy a new batting helmet for every baseball player? I thought Title IX covered public funds and unless I know where the money came from for the fields and equipment I don't know if I think Title IX violations have occurred.
If the School District paid for the turf field, portable batting cage, etc. for the boys and then provided much less (very little) for the girls then it seems like that would be a violation of Title IX. If a rich guy who owned a construction company decided he wanted to build a baseball field for his son to play on, then I would not see that as being a Title IX violation.

 

[OHsoftball]

Our girls would be happy to have the softball facilities in this news article. Our Jr High girls are 3rd in line for the softball field, after Jr High boys. I'm not sure why the Jr High boys can't play on the nice, new baseball field...

 

[Maxx]

If things (dugouts, turf fields, uniforms, practice gear, etc.) are purchased with private funds from an individual or group does that impact how Title IX comes into play? If a rich guy who owned a construction company decided he wanted to build a baseball field for his son to play on, then I would not see that as being a Title IX violation.

This would be a violation, regardless of where the funds come from.

 

[NESB]

Something to consider in the debate of Title IX...................Many School districts are advised to follow/consider..........Title IX guidelines

(1) Whether the selection of sports and levels of competition effectively accommodate the interests
and abilities of members of both sexes;
(2) The provision of equipment and supplies;
(3) Scheduling of games and practice time;
(4) Opportunitytoreceivecoach- ing and academic tutoring;
(5) Assignment and compen- sation of coaches and tutors;
(6) Provisionoflockerroomsand practice and competitive facilities; and
(7) Publicity.25
Title IX does not require a “tit- for-tat” system, but instead a system where an advantage or favorable treatment is not concentrated on boys’ athletics. For example, the amount of funding girls’ sports receive does not necessarily have to equal the amount boys’ sports receive. However, girls’ and boys’ teams should be afforded equal opportunity for funding. In a presentation about Title IX funding, suggested the following as an “acceptable funding structure”: theboys’footballteamand the girls’ volleyball team both have the opportunity to replace out-dated or worn-out equipment before the start of the season. Since football equipment is more expensive than volleyball equipment, the boys’ football team receives more money than the girls’ volleyball team. Conversely, if girls lack opportunities because of lack of funding, the school must increase its funding of girls’ sports, reduce funding to boys’ sports, or both.

 

[mike_dyer]

Most wrestling people hate title 9 and blame everything from cancer to the kidnapping of the Lindburgh baby on it's passage. I happen to love it and I'm tired of it being used as a scapegoat for all that ails intercollegiate athletics.

When they cut the Oregon wrestling program they blamed it on title 9. Nike runs that joint so I don't see how money could be a problem.

When they cut the Boston U wrestling program they blamed it on title 9. The wrestling program had an endowment and was fully funded by it. Boston U is currently using some dead guy's money for stuff he never wanted it used for.

Cleveland State hired a new AD who has a pattern of starting lacrosse programs, getting fired, and then the school cans the lacrosse program. They cut their wrestling program because they wanted the money to fund a men's and women's lacrosse team. Lacrosse isn't even an OHSAA sport, by the way, or at least it wasn't at the time. The CSU wrestling team was told it was history unless it could come up with some ridiculous amount of money on its own. 5 million or something like that. The money was so could fully support 3 sports at the school, 2 of them were lacrosse teams. The guy's wife is a lacrosse coach. The AD folded and reinstated it because of the backlash.

I could yammer on about it for days, but title 9 had nothing at all to do with any of it. I really like it when someone tells me how e-vil title 9 is, it's fun watching smoke roll out of their ears when they're asked what title 9 is or what it says. It's fun for me anyway, perhaps I'm just easily amused.

Someone else try it and report back.

 

[mike_dyer]

Here it is, BTW:

"Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”) is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs and activities. All public and private elementary and secondary schools, school districts, colleges, and universities receiving any federal financial assistance (hereinafter “schools”, “recipients”, or “recipient institutions”) must comply with Title IX."

Diabolical, isn't it?

 

[Fairman]

FYI.....
Athletic Boosters Beware: Government Orders Michigan School to Tear Down Fund-Rasied Improvements
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wendy-n-powell/athletic-boosters-beware-_b_5060862.html

 

[Fairman]

Football (and Wrestling) is not a BOYS sport it is a COED sport and doesn't calculate into Title IX Compliance. (How did they work that?)

Locally, football is a third of the entire athletic budget.

 

[NESB]

Many folks do not have a very good understanding of Title IX. Former Head Softball Coach (OHSFSCA Hall of Fame member) and President of NOW, Jackie Hillyer (Deceased 2013), wrote a great synopsis of Title IX and what it means to sports.

Check it out to really get a grasp of the issue and how it has affected women's sports. Website =

http://ohionow.org/wp/?page_id=1903