As you are aware, there has been significant media attention to Township High School District 113’s decision to not send the Highland Park High School varsity girls’ basketball team to a tournament in Scottsdale, Arizona scheduled for December, 2010. This decision is not a political statement regarding the State of Arizona’s recently enacted legislation regarding immigration.
Under long standing constitutional law, all school districts are required to provide an education to all children within the District’s borders regardless of immigration status. District 113 boasts a diverse student population and, as a school district, we believe in equal opportunity for each of our students. The selection of a girls’ varsity basketball team for the 2010-2011 winter athletic season will take place in November, 2010. The team has yet to be selected. When our students travel, the school district is responsible, both legally and ethically, for their safety, security and liberty. We cannot commit at this time to playing at a venue where some of our students’ safety or liberty might be placed at risk because of state immigration law. Our athletes will play in a competitive basketball tournament during their winter break.
Make no mistake, this is a political statement and an absurd one. There are tens of thousand state, county, and municipal laws. So, what happens when a superintendent decides that because they don't like one they won't send their kids to said area.
You can pretty much forget anyone going to Chicago. After all, our corrupt politics shouldn't conform to anyone's morality and ethics. So, the next time Highland Park has a game in city are we to expect that the Superintendent will also cancel the trip to protest the corruption in the city. Another superintendent will want to boycott California because they don't think the welfare state conforms to their standards. Someone else may boycott another state because legalized marijuana sends the wrong message to their students. This could be endless. That's what makes all this so despicable. This superintendent just picked this law out of tens of thousands to make her stand.
The rest of this is total smoke screen. You can't ever guarantee the safety of anyone but the idea that the new anti illegal immigration law somehow puts these girls in any more danger than normal is laughable.
What's really despicable about this latest protest is that it continues to make this debate all about culture. That's because opponents paint the law as racist and an affront to civil rights, and so proponents defend themselves from those charges. On and on we go, but the debate isn't about how to solve the problem.
That school has sent teams to China and South America. I betcha they have tougher immigration laws than Arizona.
ReplyDeleteThat's correct though I believe those were simply class trips and not school teams, though that doesn't change your point.
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