Post by Lebowski on Oct 30, 2015 7:57:53 GMT -6
OSSAA actions undermine the organization's credibility
by The Oklahoman Editorial Board Published: October 30, 2015
EACH year, Oklahoma schools pay millions of dollars for membership in the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association. What schools appear to receive in return is haphazard and inconsistent oversight of extracurricular activities.
The OSSAA has received much scrutiny regarding allegations that its processes are too secretive and that its decisions regarding students' eligibility vary wildly on a case-by-case basis. The latest controversy centers on something far more serious than student eligibility. The OSSAA is charged with determining if a coach ordered his players to assault someone.
Cache coach Kenny White is accused of designing an inbounds play to deliberately throw a basketball into the face of former Elgin player Jentry Holt with the intent to “break her nose.”
That's a serious charge. So how has the OSSAA handled it? By allowing Cache school officials to investigate themselves — twice, with a third self-investigation on the way. Cache school officials found no wrongdoing — but then suspended White for three games.
Needless to say, that's a mixed message. If nothing wrong happened, then why was the coach suspended?
Two Cache players signed affidavits saying the play was designed to hurt Holt and that White told team members to lie about his involvement. So now OSSAA officials have asked Cache school officials to investigate themselves yet again.
In theory, the OSSAA oversees extracurricular activities for member schools in Oklahoma for grades seven through 12. That includes everything from the makeup of athletic districts to playoffs to student transfers and eligibility.
The group is governed by a 14-member board composed mostly of school principals and superintendents. Its annual operating budget of about $5 million comes from member fees and playoff gate receipts, which means virtually all OSSAA monies are taxpayer funds redirected from public schools.
In short, the OSSAA is a de facto government entity, yet operates free from much government oversight.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court has explicitly noted that the OSSAA “is not truly a voluntary association” since it is “difficult to argue that the OSSAA is not effectively in almost complete control of secondary school athletic competition between public school students in the state of Oklahoma.” The group is even granted specific authority in state law.
“Because the source of funding of public schools is from Oklahoma taxpayers, the State of Oklahoma has an interest in ensuring that tax dollars are used by the OSSAA in a manner that is not arbitrary and capricious, but one that is fair and impartial,” state Supreme Court justices noted in a 2013 decision. “Meaningful review of the OSSAA's actions is necessary to ensure this.”
Admittedly, passions run high around athletics. There's no way OSSAA can resolve most disputes without angering someone. Still, it's fair to ask why the OSSAA doesn't have the manpower in its reported $5 million budget to conduct an independent investigation of the Cache allegations. The group clearly has the leverage to force the school's cooperation.
Allowing schools to investigate themselves — particularly regarding the most serious charges — seems comparable to the Internal Revenue Service allowing citizens to self-investigate allegations of failure to report income.
Given the taxpayer dollars provided to the OSSAA each year, Oklahomans should get credible oversight of schools' extracurricular activities, not a system where the most brazen violators have an apparent advantage over those who follow the rules.
by The Oklahoman Editorial Board Published: October 30, 2015
EACH year, Oklahoma schools pay millions of dollars for membership in the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association. What schools appear to receive in return is haphazard and inconsistent oversight of extracurricular activities.
The OSSAA has received much scrutiny regarding allegations that its processes are too secretive and that its decisions regarding students' eligibility vary wildly on a case-by-case basis. The latest controversy centers on something far more serious than student eligibility. The OSSAA is charged with determining if a coach ordered his players to assault someone.
Cache coach Kenny White is accused of designing an inbounds play to deliberately throw a basketball into the face of former Elgin player Jentry Holt with the intent to “break her nose.”
That's a serious charge. So how has the OSSAA handled it? By allowing Cache school officials to investigate themselves — twice, with a third self-investigation on the way. Cache school officials found no wrongdoing — but then suspended White for three games.
Needless to say, that's a mixed message. If nothing wrong happened, then why was the coach suspended?
Two Cache players signed affidavits saying the play was designed to hurt Holt and that White told team members to lie about his involvement. So now OSSAA officials have asked Cache school officials to investigate themselves yet again.
In theory, the OSSAA oversees extracurricular activities for member schools in Oklahoma for grades seven through 12. That includes everything from the makeup of athletic districts to playoffs to student transfers and eligibility.
The group is governed by a 14-member board composed mostly of school principals and superintendents. Its annual operating budget of about $5 million comes from member fees and playoff gate receipts, which means virtually all OSSAA monies are taxpayer funds redirected from public schools.
In short, the OSSAA is a de facto government entity, yet operates free from much government oversight.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court has explicitly noted that the OSSAA “is not truly a voluntary association” since it is “difficult to argue that the OSSAA is not effectively in almost complete control of secondary school athletic competition between public school students in the state of Oklahoma.” The group is even granted specific authority in state law.
“Because the source of funding of public schools is from Oklahoma taxpayers, the State of Oklahoma has an interest in ensuring that tax dollars are used by the OSSAA in a manner that is not arbitrary and capricious, but one that is fair and impartial,” state Supreme Court justices noted in a 2013 decision. “Meaningful review of the OSSAA's actions is necessary to ensure this.”
Admittedly, passions run high around athletics. There's no way OSSAA can resolve most disputes without angering someone. Still, it's fair to ask why the OSSAA doesn't have the manpower in its reported $5 million budget to conduct an independent investigation of the Cache allegations. The group clearly has the leverage to force the school's cooperation.
Allowing schools to investigate themselves — particularly regarding the most serious charges — seems comparable to the Internal Revenue Service allowing citizens to self-investigate allegations of failure to report income.
Given the taxpayer dollars provided to the OSSAA each year, Oklahomans should get credible oversight of schools' extracurricular activities, not a system where the most brazen violators have an apparent advantage over those who follow the rules.