Bressler v. Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association, No. 05-783 (D. Md. Sept. 7, 2005)
A federal district court in Maryland has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a private school coach and home-schooled students against the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA) over restrictions on home-schoolers participating in interscholastic athletics. In an unpublished opinion, the court granted MPSSAA's motion for summary judgment on the grounds that the plaintiffs' claims were "entirely without merit" in light of MPSSAA's adoption of rule changes that address the plaintiffs' constitutional concerns about fairness to home-schoolers "who are genuinely pursuing their education and who wish to participate in interscholastic athletic competition." In July 2005, MPSSAA adopted an 18-point guideline, called the Standards of Interscholastic Athletic Competition (SIAC), which sets out the conditions that non-member schools and athletes must meet in order to compete against MPSSAA member schools. The SIAC provides that such students must be recognized by their county as being home-schooled, and it must be verified that each student is in good academic standing as well as registered in a certified home-schooling program. Under the prior MPSSAA regulations, public school teams could only compete against other high school teams whose athletes were enrolled at the school and were of high school age.
Bressler v. Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association, No. 05-783 (D. Md. Sept. 7, 2005)
[Link to full opinion]Washington Post[Link to full story]Gazette.NetBy Adam Rubenstein
[Link to full story][
Editor's Note: For background on the lawsuit, access the link below.]
[NSBA School Law pages on Bressler v. MPSSAA]