Not everyone pleased with PIAA changes
For most who have been calling for more playoff parity between public and private schools, the two new PIAA transfer rules are refreshing.
But those new rules haven’t been universally welcomed, even for those with the same goals in mind.
Woodland Hills athletic director Ron Coursey worries one of the rules, which says any athlete who transfers schools after the start of their 10th-grade year will be ineligible to compete in district or PIAA playoffs in any sport they participated in the previous year, takes a more “guilty until proven innocent” viewpoint, and could be damaging for minority communities and athletes in particular.
“I just have some major concerns about some of the underrepresented communities,” Coursey said. “We have a lot of students that transfer through no fault of their own. We have a lot of kids that live in very transient communities with very transient populations, and as a result, sometimes kids have to switch schools abruptly and sometimes without advanced notice.”
The playoff ineligibility could be waived due to “hardship,” but academic needs and “development, spiritual, and/or social reasons” are not hardship reasons.
A change in residence may qualify as hardship, but that ambiguity is worrisome to Coursey, taking into consideration kids whose families struggle financially and move around more, or who transfer to seek a more stable situation.
For every kid that transfers with athletic intent, Coursey said, there’s an equal amount of kids that transfer because of social or academic reasons.
“Not just from a racial standpoint, but it could be from the standpoint that a kid has to walk through gang-infested neighborhoods to get to school,” Coursey said. “A kid has to go through a situation where they face social challenges just based on the neighborhood that they’re from.”
Coursey hopes there are public forums to come, with those from underrepresented communities able to express these concerns.
“Oftentimes, kids and parents, and even to a certain extent, school administrators from low income, socioeconomically challenged backgrounds, their voice is not heard,” Coursey said. “And that’s not just with athletics, that’s across the board with everything to do with public education.”