Title IX

In October, a settlement was agreed to in Shields v. Lauderdale County School District (Mississippi), a Title IX lawsuit filed in April 2017 by the parents of two softball-playing daughters at West Lauderdale High School complaining of numerous inequities between the benefits flowing to the school’s baseball team and those accruing to the softball team. As is typical of same-sport-inequities Title IX disputes across the country, the district attempted to defend itself by arguing that the financial resources responsible for the differences in facilities, equipment, access to quality coaching, travel opportunities and marketing support were not funds from the athletic programs budget, but were provided by outside sources, in this case the baseball team’s booster club.

However, as has repeatedly been ruled by both the federal courts and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (the federal agency charged with enforcing Title IX), schools are responsible for remedying inequities regardless of the source of the financial resources that created the differences, including outside funding from booster clubs, donors, fundraisers and corporate sponsors. The 16-page consent decree finalizing the settlement includes a detailed listing of all the improvements that will be made by the district to the softball program and a timetable for the implementation of those changes.

I'm assuming we don't have any resident Title IX attorneys here, but I wonder if my daughters would have to be directly impacted in order to be a plaintiff in such a case. My daughters are 10 and 5 and I'd like to have this fixed before they reach high school.

chevy706 said:

I'm assuming we don't have any resident Title IX attorneys here, but I wonder if my daughters would have to be directly impacted in order to be a plaintiff in such a case. My daughters are 10 and 5 and I'd like to have this fixed before they reach high school.

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You have to have someone who is directly or indirectly effected if it gets to this stage. Ideally you are looking for someone it is hard to retaliate against which will absolutely happen. Ideally someone either in the senior class or someone who just graduated.

It can be a long and complex process before it even gets to court. There are specific things that need to be done before you even get close to the investigation phase which precedes any lawsuit. Most get resolved before the investigation phase because most school districts don't want an investigation because they investigate the WHOLE program. That means if girl's softball is the source, it is not just what is happening in softball that gets looked at - they look across everything and that can be very unpleasant. It is amzing how much money the school district can find when they get called out.

We just had a new charter school have to redo their planned build out of their main campus because they decided to build a million dollar football & baseball complex on-campus and softball was going to be played 15 miles away at a city park. It never got to an investigation stage because it was clear very early on that they were going to lose so they (eventually) put forward an acceptable plan to move forward with and now they magically can build a softball field on-campus. And I say eventually because their first attempt for a softball field was a perfect triangle and shared its outfield fence with the huge football stand. Also center field was 150'. And there was no womans locker rooms. They got there in the end, but I know the people involved and it was like pulling teeth.

If you want to educate yourself, this is a good place to start:

Alhambra High School

chevy706 said:

I'm assuming we don't have any resident Title IX attorneys here, but I wonder if my daughters would have to be directly impacted in order to be a plaintiff in such a case. My daughters are 10 and 5 and I'd like to have this fixed before they reach high school.

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Anybody can submit a Title IX complaint with the OCR. You don't need a kid on the team. This route takes far longer than a lawsuit though.

Marriard said it best. Your daughters wouldn't qualify because they are only potentially affected by any change, as you could move, they could stop playing, etc. Find a student who is entering her Senior year to be your plaintiff. Even if this drags on beyond her time at school, others similarly situated would be affected by the decision, hence the court will not dismiss the case. There is no nationwide injunction (nor could there be) on this issue, thus every school district has to fend for themselves on it. The big hammer that every school district should worry about is the potential for attorneys fees and possible enhanced damages if they lose a lawsuit.

My wife came home complaining last night saying it just isn’t fair that the baseball team has their complete uniforms handed to them, and we only get a jersey that we have to return. Also that the school provides a bus to take the team to their away games while softball has to carpool with parents which leads to some players getting there late. I want to tell her suck it up buttercup life isn’t fair, but softball has to pay a higher fee to play on the team than the baseball does. Something does smell fishy about this.

Laphoneman said:

My wife came home complaining last night saying it just isn’t fair that the baseball team has their complete uniforms handed to them, and we only get a jersey that we have to return. Also that the school provides a bus to take the team to their away games while softball has to carpool with parents which leads to some players getting there late. I want to tell her suck it up buttercup life isn’t fair, but softball has to pay a higher fee to play on the team than the baseball does. Something does smell fishy about this.

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We live is an upper middle income suburb. Our HS is huge, one of the largest in the state. Our baseball team has full dugouts and the field is of minor league standards. Our softball field is like that of a rec league. We have no dugouts so parents and coaches bring pop up canopies when it's sunny or rains. Our kids weren't allowed to use the gym this winter because other teams were using them. Our girls have one jersey that they need to wear every day (practice and games) so we wash it every day. It's been used for the last 4-5 years.
Our coach has hinted to parents to bring it up. I am on the fence about saying something.

BT3100 said:

We live is an upper middle income suburb. Our HS is huge, one of the largest in the state. Our baseball team has full dugouts and the field is of minor league standards. Our softball field is like that of a rec league. We have no dugouts so parents and coaches bring pop up canopies when it's sunny or rains. Our kids weren't allowed to use the gym this winter because other teams were using them. Our girls have one jersey that they need to wear every day (practice and games) so we wash it every day. It's been used for the last 4-5 years.
Our coach has hinted to parents to bring it up. I am on the fence about saying something.

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It takes only one person to be brave enough.

Get your facts and documentation in line. Make sure you understand what softball did and does versus others. If you can find out what SCHOOL money was spent on - or is spent on - you can have a strong case (if the school is paying for better quality uniforms on a more regular basis this is a big red flag for example. Fundraising is a much more grey area but also is covered in Title IX decisions - source of funds does not relieve the institution of providing fair and the same opportunities and quality of facilities). Come in with a desired solution, not just a complaint. Be realistic - if you softball has done NOTHING and missed opportunities be honest - Title IX requires schools to provide opportunity but often some sports don't take advantage of them. Understand what Title IX really means and what the requirements on the school and district are - the justplaynow.org site spells it out in great detail in their "Does my school play fair" section.

What is described above are very CLEAR violations. To what extent will depend on a lot of factors.

Be willing to use the words "Title IX requires" and "I would rather have this solved right here and now versus having to take it further, but I am willing to if I need to."

This is a very good read:

http://titleixspecialists.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Q-A-Baseball-Softball-Fields.pdf

Man, while my DD has zero interest in playing for our local HS, they have some very nice fields. We live in podunk tobacco farming NC. The school is what I'd call "big", but probably not big compared to some states' largest. Around 1600 students 9-12. One thing I do find odd, the softball field is owned by the local parks and rec. It's where I take my DD to practice often. Softball and baseball teams rent it for practice and dare I say, more affordable than any other place, by far. There are 2 fields side by side, one an "adult" softball field with fences at 280, and then the school field. It's very well maintained, dare I say almost immaculate. I think the baseball field had some kind of volunteer group that maintains it as opposed to the county. They're always working on it and I swear it's near MLB level perfect. I can complain about a whole lot with that school, but baseball/softball parity isn't one of them. LOL