If you thought the saga of the athletic programs – make that the former athletic programs – at the Hudson County Schools of Technology, namely High Tech and County Prep, was over, guess again.
In fact, it’s now getting to the point of complete absurdity.
And it’s not going away anytime soon.
Here’s the latest: The mass exodus of student/athletes, who left the aforementioned schools when the powers-that-be (politicians, school board officials, administration) decided that there could no longer be athletic programs at the two schools, are now ineligible to participate in sports immediately at the schools they have transferred to.
That’s right. They have to sit out for 30 days, according to the NJSIAA’s long-standing transfer rule.
It has nothing to do with their circumstances, that their former school eliminated the athletic programs. In the eyes of the NJSIAA, a transfer is a transfer is a transfer.
“I’ve spoken to an athletic director or two about that matter,” said Larry White, an associate director with the NJSIAA. “We have to follow the rule. If a school closes, then a student can transfer without losing any eligibility. But when it comes to a Vo-Tech school, they can go back to the district that they’re from and play. In this case, they can stay in the school, but if they transfer out, then they have to abide by the transfer rule.
Added White, “The schools haven’t closed. The students could still attend the schools. Academics should have been the reason why they chose to attend those schools in the first place and they are not being denied their academics. But if they want to participate in athletics, then they can still attend their respective schools and play for the programs in their district.”
White said that there would be no special dispensation for the athletes who once played for either High Tech or County Prep.
“We say athletic advantage in terms of transfer, but in a sense, it’s for athletic reasons,” White said. “Maybe it’s a better program, maybe for playing time. But if the transfer takes place because of that, then we have to enforce the transfer rule. We have fought that battle and continue to fight that battle. It’s the rule and if the rule is being misinterpreted, then we’ll address that situation.”
From what we’ve learned, then the NJSIAA is going to be very busy interpreting rules and addressing eligibility and transfers concerning at least 100 different Hudson County athletes, maybe more.
Practically every single Hudson County high school has at least one student/athlete who has transferred into their athletic program this fall.
Some of Hudson’s schools have had a host of transfers that have entered their new schools for a variety of reasons – and some of them are somehow eligible to play right away, simply because they have produced a change of address.
That’s the way the NJSIAA’s transfer rule can be circumvented and avoided. Just produce a new address and presto, you’re eligible to play right away at the new school.
And that’s not simply just because of the demise of the High Tech and County Prep programs. Nope, we’ve had cases where coaches have left a former school and the players have somehow followed suit. We’ve had instances where a coach leaves and kids miraculously show up at another school altogether.
And all that was needed was the simple change of address.
But let’s address the 400 or so student/athletes who were kicked to the curb last March when the Hudson County Schools of Technology, with strong encouragement from local elected officials, decided to pull the plug on the athletic programs at the two schools.
Those student/athletes at the time were told that they could remain in their respective schools and still participate in athletics, provided that they played for the school district where they reside.
However, there was never any provision given to those affected athletes when they left High Tech or County Prep for the summer last June.
Now, how were they supposed to find out about trying out or playing for the teams in their respective districts? Just show up and volunteer? Contact the coach at the home district school?
And there was never a plan given to those students in terms of transportation. For example, if an athlete attended High Tech in North Bergen, but lived in Bayonne, there wouldn’t be enough time for that student/athlete to make it back to Bayonne after school in time for practice. It was simply geographically impossible – not to make it impractical considering the Hudson County traffic.
So those kids who expected to play sports in the fall, like boys’ and girls’ soccer and cross country, were left out in the cold with no direction as to what to do next.
With that in mind, a lot of those kids, not wanting to go to one school and play for another, decided to transfer back to their home district – and they were all handed a 30-day penalty for transferring.
“My feeling is that they chose to go to the Vo-Tech school for a reason to begin with, whether to learn shop or performing arts or something,” White said. “They are not being denied that right to receive the education they were seeking. The transfer rule is something that we have not altered at all and I don’t foresee it being altered. We know that there are a lot of kids affected with this plan, but we’re trying to do what’s best for 260,000 student/athletes in New Jersey, not just 400.”
NJSIAA assistant director Bob Baly has been the administrator who has been dealing with the transfer situations, especially the ones dealing with the local student/athletes, but Baly was on vacation last week and unavailable for comment.
It doesn’t appear likely that anything will change. The kids who transferred back to their respective home school districts will have to sit out the mandatory 30 days. The others who are still attending the Schools of Technology can play right away.
And then there are the others who are at new schools and playing somehow, providing a change of address to their local school administrators.
Some kids are eligible, others are not. It’s almost chaotic and you need more than a scorecard to keep up with it all.
Whatever the case, there are hundreds of Hudson County kids attending different schools this fall than they did a year ago – and hundreds wearing different uniforms than they did at this same time last year.
And that’s just wrong. There are a lot of people to blame for the mess. Start pointing fingers all around. Everyone can stand up and be counted for creating this disaster.
And it’s a mess that won’t be cleaned up anytime soon.
The politicians and administrators started the mess by pulling the plug. Now, it’s up to the NJSIAA to help clean up the mess. It won’t be easy, not by a long shot.
In fact, it may get only worse, if the NJSIAA starts to conduct investigations into the hundreds of different transfer cases that have taken place within the confines of Hudson County. No, it’s not going to be pretty at all.
So we have to see what transpires over the next few months. For sure, there are coaches and local athletic directors who are up in arms over what has already gone on. It should be interesting to see where it goes from here.
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.