The National Women’s Law Center is coming after the Wake County School System and they didn’t even know it. The law center claims that the WCSS is in violation of Title IX by not providing equal opportunity for girls to play in sports.
According to the complaint:
The difference between the percentage of girls enrolled and the percentage of athletes who are girls at high schools in the District is 11.8 percentage points. If the high schools in the District provided girls with opportunities substantially proportionate to enrollment, an additional 2,620 girls would be able to play sports.
Title IX was written to guarantee equal opportunity in educational activities. But here again, it is an unstoppable campaign to impose quotas and gender preferences in schools.
As I have said before, the Title IX amendment, which simply outlaws sex discrimination in educational institutions, is not the problem; it is the way Title IX is administered.
In this case, since Wake County Schools receive federal financial assistance, they must be in accordance with Title IX. But according to the N&O:
Bobby Guthrie, the Wake County athletic director, said the filing came as a surprise to Wake officials, adding that no one from the National Women’s Law Center had contacted him. He praised the school system’s commitment to girls’ sports, citing the 24 N.C. High School Athletic Association 4-A state championships won by Wake schools’ girls teams the last five years.
If Wake County is in violation of not providing enough sports for girls, then WCSS needs to make some changes in their athletic department. However, I hope that WCSS is meeting the demand of girl’s sports, and not the pressure to reach a gender quota.
Jessica, I am not sure where you are getting your information however Title IX is not just about equal opportunities for young women to education but indeed about athletics, equal and comparable funding for girls athletics, practice and game facilities, equipment, coaching, publicity,and other related issues.
Title IX in high school athletics is a very serious matter and often the stance is taken just as the AD for Wake County seems to be taking in that ” oh look we don’t discriminate, look at the championships our girls teams have won”
Title IX is not about championships but ensuring female athletics are provided equal rights and equal opportunity.
Winston Salem Forsyth County Schools was found to be in violation of Title IX on numerous accounts in 2008 by Office of Civil after complaints were made based on practice times and facilities as well as other issues against West Forsyth High School on behalf of the girls field hockey team. The Office of Civil Rights conducted a full investigation including interviewing players, administration of all WSFC schools and WSFC Field Hockey Coaches. The OCR found the entire system in violation of not providing equal access to suitable practice and playing facilities for field hockey teams, failure to provide equal funding, publicity, travel,equipment etc to the girls field hockey teams. The school system was ordered to come into compliance and to provided yearly progress reports of their actions through 2011 or 2012 however very little has improved. A simple example of a Title IX violation is canceling Senior Night game for Ladies Field Hockey so the field being used could be aerated and seeded. The field in question being used is the baseball outfield. I would put the question out to others here and ask, do you think there would be any chance at all for the football team to cancel senior night football game so a field could be aerated and seeded, or cancel a boys baseball or basketball games for similar reasons, The likely answer is no.
Unfortunately the typical response to Title IX complaints is more government intervention.
Initially early on in the complaint against WSFC schools the AD at the time and the WSFC administration attorney Drew Davis took the stance if the complaint proceeded to the level of involving the OCR ( office of civil rights)the best way they could come into compliance would be just to eliminate the sport of field hockey all together. During the course of the investigation this was also found to be a violation based on intimidation of the athlete who brought forth the complaint.
It should also be noted Jessica that often the complaint to the Dept of Ed Office of Civil Rights is the last and final resort when the administration takes such a recalcitrant stance.
Jessica, if the boys have unfairly been consuming the girls portion of the athletic pie for decades, why do you feel it is not fair for them to get their piece of the pie back and have the boys go on a low fat diet?