MHSA reminds schools of gender equality laws

The Title IX laws are an important part of how the education system works. The laws, which were passed as amendments in 1972, says in part, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” These laws come into effect often in the school system, and in the 1980’s, a number of female athletes in Montana took it a step further, specifically in athletics. The girls felt they, and others, were being discriminated against due to their sex. In what would be called the Ridgeway Settlement Agreement (RSA), it states that the girls alleged there were “being denied an equal opportunity to participate in extracurricular high school athletics” and that they were “subjected to invidious discrimination in athletes and consequently were deprived of an opportunity to develop to their full educational potential in violation of state and federal law.

Since that time, the Montana High School Association has been in charge of making sure the RSA is being followed to ensure equal rights.

In May of 2015, MHSA member school administrators received a memo from the office of the MHSA, which stated that inquiries had been made to them concerning scheduling of girls’ and boys’ basketball games. In a section of the RSA called “scheduling and facilities” the agreement states that “a school district shall schedule the times and places for practices and athletic events or games for male and female teams of the same and comparable sports on an equal basis, but not necessarily together at the same time.” It also states that “this requirement means that male and female teams shall have equal access to prime time practice and play during the times of the day and days of the week in facilities or on fields which are equally desirable and advantageous to female and male teams.”

The agreement defines “prime time” as the hours immediately after school and before the evening meal for practices and the weekend evenings for games. After the girls’ basketball season was switched to the winter season in 2002-2003, the MHSA told schools that they were required to rotate the teams between early and late games. After recent inquires, the MHSA consulted to determine if those rules should still be in place. After confirming that the rules should still be in effect, the memo was sent out to member schools.

While the memo did not say the consequences of not following these rules, it did say “Your attention to these interpretations when scheduling is greatly appreciated.”

Multiple girls’ basketball coaches have expressed that they would rather play the early game, as have many girls. A prominent concern is the fan base. Often, when the boys’ team plays first, the fans leave before the girls’ game. However, Joanne Austin, an Associate Director for the MHSA, said that isn’t always the case. “Look at Fairfield,” she said in a phone interview last week. The Fairfield girls’ basketball team has been a dominating force in Class B. They currently hold the sixth longest win streak in the nation with 120 straight wins. That streak was broke last year in a loss to their rival, Choteau.

According to Austin, another reason for rotating game times is for the parents. “When the girls always play first, their parents always either have to leave work early or have to miss their games,” she said, “and then the boys are always having late nights.”

In Charlo, they try to fix that problem by playing both the boys’ and girls’ JV games at the same time, which means the games can start later, helping parents make it to the games without having to miss work. Charlo’s Superintendent Steve Love said, “Our student athletes, regardless of sex, are blessed with outstanding support from our fans.” He also said, “As far as Charlo basketball, our scheduling is non-discriminatory as well as being in the best interest of all student athletes. As the memo states, ‘there is no specific formula or directive that requires schools to schedule in a particular manner’.”

Arlee’s girls’ basketball coach and Athletic Director Bill Stockton said Arlee has made changes to their schedules in the past few years to comply with the MHSA. Ronan, Mission and Polson often send one team and have the other host, which makes rotating the game times less of an issue. In Ronan, Athletic Director Courtney Fisher said the Title IX and RSA laws are an important part of sports, and something that the school has to pay close attention to. She gave a few examples of issues besides the game times. “You have to make sure they both have an equal number of games. Also, say the boys go to the divisional tournament and decide they want to eat at Subway. Well, the girls better not be going to somewhere like Applebee’s. They both need to be in the same boat.”