Federal Appeals Court Rules Weeknight Scheduling of Girls Basketball Games May Violate Title IX

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently ruled in Parker v. Franklin County School Corporation (7^th Cir. Jan 31, 2012), that two female basketball players have presented sufficient evidence to proceed to trial on their Title IX claim of denial of equal athletic opportunity based on the disparate scheduling of girls basketball games.  The suit alleges that several Indiana school districts have treated boys and girls basketball teams differently when scheduling their games.  The suit alleges that the boys teams were given “primetime” games on Friday and Saturday nights, while the girls games were often scheduled for weeknights.  The suit alleges that these differences resulted in several negative implications, including (1) placing female student-athletes at an academic disadvantage, (2) the girls team receiving less support from school and community-members at games, and (3) the girls feeling inferior or as if they had “second class status.” 

The Seventh Circuit determined that the scheduling disparity was systematic in nature.  Moreover, the Indiana High School Athletic Association had received notice from the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in 1997 that the difference in scheduling “could be found by OCR to be out of compliance with the scheduling of games and practice times component of the athletic provisions of Title IX if they reserve Friday nights for boys basketball games and schedule girls basketball games on other nights.”

Districts may want to review how their schools schedule boys and girls games to ensure equal athletic opportunity in light of this recent court decision.

For more information, see the National School Boards Association’s coverage on their blog.

Meghan Covert Russell