school issues

[connie0263]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

My daughter is a cheerleader in local high school. what I need to find out is it fair for the girl(athletes) to be charge cheerleader fees and the football player, baseball players, and basketball players, (athletes) are not charged fees. When the girls made cheerleader at the end of last year we were given a total of $700.00 per girl. now that school has started back the principal and the new cheerleader coach is adding an additional $200.00 per girl. Then they tell us that its mandatory. Please give me some legal advise. I was looking on the internet and found a court case Roderick Jackson vs. Birmingham board of education. It appears that this is kinda the same issue, or rather some similiar issues because the school is federally funded and the athlete department is receiveing some type of grant, the school does have a booster club that does not benefit the cheerleaders(athletes). I keep stressing athletes. The boy (athletes) have never had to do any fund raisers while the girl cheerleaders (athletes) are responsible for all types of fund raisers. Please assist some desperate parents looking for legal answers.

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

My daughter is a cheerleader in local high school. what I need to find out is it fair for the girl(athletes) to be charge cheerleader fees and the football player, baseball players, and basketball players, (athletes) are not charged fees. When the girls made cheerleader at the end of last year we were given a total of $700.00 per girl. now that school has started back the principal and the new cheerleader coach is adding an additional $200.00 per girl. Then they tell us that its mandatory. Please give me some legal advise. I was looking on the internet and found a court case Roderick Jackson vs. Birmingham board of education. It appears that this is kinda the same issue, or rather some similiar issues because the school is federally funded and the athlete department is receiveing some type of grant, the school does have a booster club that does not benefit the cheerleaders(athletes). I keep stressing athletes. The boy (athletes) have never had to do any fund raisers while the girl cheerleaders (athletes) are responsible for all types of fund raisers. Please assist some desperate parents looking for legal answers.

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[TheGeekess]

I remember the case, and actually worked contract with the school system in question.... Believe me, this school in this case (now closed) was built in 1929 and had not been maintained in the last 20 years. When built it was not inner city, but at the time of its closing it was 99.5% minority (as are all the schools in the school system in question).

"After petitioner, the girls' basketball coach at a public high school, discovered that his team was not receiving equal funding and equal access to athletic equipment and facilities, he complained unsuccessfully to his supervisors. He then received negative work evaluations and ultimately was removed as the girls' coach. He brought this suit alleging that respondent school board (Board) had retaliated against him because he had complained about sex discrimination in the high school's athletic program, and that such retaliation violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U. S. C. §1681(a), which provides that "[n]o person ... shall, on the basis of sex, be ... subjected to discrimination under any education program ... receiving Federal financial assistance." The District Court dismissed the complaint on the ground that Title IX's private cause of action does not include claims of retaliation, and the Eleventh Circuit agreed and affirmed. The appeals court also concluded that, under Alexander v. Sandoval, 532 U. S. 275, the Department of Education's Title IX regulation expressly prohibiting retaliation does not create a private cause of action, and that, even if Title IX prohibits retaliation, petitioner is not within the class of persons the statute protects."
FindLaw | Cases and Codes

"RODERICK JACKSON is a high school girl's basketball coach in Alabama who could not stand by in silence when he knew his players were being treated worse than the boys' team. The girls were not allowed to use the new, regulation gym the boys' team used; instead, the girls had to practice and play in the old gym with its wooden backboards, bent rims, and no heat. Although the boys' team was driven to away games by bus, the girls had to make their own arrangements and travel by car when the girls' and boys' games were scheduled at different times. In addition, the girls couldn't get to some of the equipment that was available to the boys, including the ice machine. On one occasion, Jackson was forced to break into the ice machine to treat an injured player.

Money was another major problem. The girls were routinely denied any share of the money donated to the school athletics program by the City of Birmingham. And, while the boys' team was allowed to keep money from admissions and concession sales during their games, the girls' team was not. This made it hard for the girls to pay for game costs, like paying for game officials.

Coach Jackson questioned school officials about this different treatment and received no answers. He kept asking and fighting for his team. The result: He was fired. Feeling he had no other alternative, he sued under Title IX. His case has gone all the way to the Supreme Court.

On November 30, 2004, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Coach Jackson's case to decide whether those who are penalized for complaining about sex discrimination can go to court to challenge the retaliation to which they are subjected. In March 2005,The Supreme Court agreed with Mr. Jackson. They said schools couldn't punish people for standing up for the students' rights. "
Title IX | I EXercise My Rights | Athletics

"The Supreme Court today ruled in favor of a fired Birmingham high school basketball coach who filed a Title IX suit against the Birmingham Board of Education, alleging that the boys' team at Ensley High School had better equipment and resources than his team of girls.

Today's decision broadens the protection of whistleblowers who sue over discrimination. Roderick Jackson claims he was fired after making his complaints to the school system. "
Birmingham whistleblower has Supreme Court victory - Birmingham Business Journal:

With this being said, I don't think this case has diddly to do with your situation. I don't think the cheerleaders are being discriminated against. When I was in HS the dance-line and the majorettes had different monetary requirements than the cheerleaders or the regular band members.

Suck it up and pay the fees if you want your daughter on the cheer squad. I had to pay extra for my 6th grader to be in band this year. If she wasn't taking band, I wouldn't have to had paid to have an instrument refurbed, band fees, etc. It's all part of having privileges.

 

[ariastar]

The football, soccer, basketball, etc., teams all charge admission. The ticket sales cover their expenses. For cheer-leading, how will the expenses be covered? People aren't paying to go to the games to see the cheer-leaders. They go to see the sport on the field/court.

You are talking about the cheer-leaders and male sports players. What about the female sports players? Cheer-leaders are not athletes. They are not routinely competing in several games per year versus teams from other schools. If the girls' soccer team has a high fee to join and the boys play free, then you may have something.

 

[stealth2]

Yeah, they don't go to listen to the band, either. So we shell out for that. If you don't want to, urge your daughter to find another (cough) sport.