Hmmmm.....- from thr KPT

Lack of softball sparks lawsuit against Lee County School Board
BIG STONE GAP - A Pennington Gap family has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Big Stone Gap against the Lee County School Board claiming the board illegally denies their daughters an equal opportunity to participate in interscholastic and other school-sponsored athletics as compared to male students.
Specifically, the suit claims the system fails to offer girls softball at Pennington Middle School.

The basis for the suit is cited as violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and Title IX requirements which state: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in ... any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance."

The action seeks a declaratory judgment that the board has violated their daughters' rights under federal law and an injunction requiring the board to immediately cease its discriminatory practices and to remedy the effects of its practices and conduct. Injunctive relief sought includes requiring the board to sponsor and fund a girls softball team and to provide their daughters with treatment and benefits equivalent to that provided to the boys athletic teams at Lee County public schools.....The ******* - represented by Samuel J. Schiller of Cookeville, Tenn.; Ray Yasser of Tulsa, Okla.; and Sue Ella E. Kobak of Pennington Gap - allege in their lawsuit that the defendants have discriminated against their daughters in the areas of funding athletics, scheduling games and practices, transportation, and provision of locker rooms and facilities for both practice and competition.

The parents say one of their daughters is a talented athlete who participates in softball and basketball at Lee High, where she has endured the unequal treatment and benefits directed by the Lee County school system toward its female athletes

[img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]Next it will be over travel times to practice and folks will have to go to the elementary schools to practice so all the kids will be equal distance to/from the school. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]