Federal judge blocks Red Lake Falls senior from playing girls basketball at nearby school

A federal lawsuit filed by Red Lake Falls, Minn., parents over their daughter’s inability to play varsity basketball at a neighboring school where her male classmates play faced a setback Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell issued a ruling that blocks the senior from suiting up for Red Lake County Central High School’s varsity team, about 25 miles east — a school she wanted to play for because Red Lake Falls didn’t have enough players for a girls varsity team the past two seasons. It’s not the final decision in this pending case, but the shot clock is ticking and her dad fears it’s already game over.

Chris and Amy Nelson filed what is known as a preliminary injunction that asked Blackwell to force Red Lake Falls into letting their daughter, identified as S.N. in the lawsuit, play immediately at Central as the case is pending.

But Blackwell said issuing an injunction “after a season commences may effectively determine a student’s entire season before the merits can be adjudicated.”

“A lost senior season is irreparable,” Blackwell wrote in his 13-page ruling against the Nelsons, acknowledging the toll of the decision despite the legal rationale behind it.

The Nelsons sued the school district earlier this month as a last resort with the basketball season looming. They say their daughter dreams of playing college basketball. She scored her 1,000th point in 10th grade at Red Lake Falls before the varsity team dissolved last year over a lack of players.

They want S.N. to play at Central, and the two schools have a boys basketball co-op. But so far Red Lake Falls, and now the judge, have said no.

“Who wants to sue their employer? We don’t want to sue anybody. We just want her to play,” he told the Minnesota Star Tribune.

“We knew it was a long shot, but we also wanted to let [S.N.] know that we were on your side, and your rights are not lesser than males’.”

Central girls’ varsity basketball coach Mitch Bernstein, who is also the Red Lake County sheriff, was disappointed in the ruling. He said if the injunction had been approved, S.N. could’ve suited up by Christmas.

“There is always hope for S.N. and her family, but the basketball season goes by fast,” Bernstein said, “so any future appeals or scheduled hearings take valuable time and threaten the possibility of her being able to compete this season.”

In 2023, Red Lake Falls school board denied a girls sports co-op with Central, voting 4-3 along gender lines with four men against it and three women for it.

The lawsuit argues S.N. should be allowed to play at Central because Red Lake Falls boys do. The schools northeast of Crookston have had a boys basketball co-op team since 2007. And because this opportunity is afforded to boys and not girls, the Nelsons accuse Red Lake Falls of violating Title IX, a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in education.

Central said it welcomes S.N. to play for them, but Red Lake Falls declined because they said such a decision would affect dozens of players beyond just S.N.

A co-op agreement is effective for two years under Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) rules and programwide, not just for varsity.

Blackwell said that “implementing a co-op now would dissolve Red Lake Falls’ junior varsity team after practices and games have already commenced and require integrating its roster — which includes one sophomore, three freshmen, two eighth-graders and a seventh grader— into a new, multischool structure."

Central proposed a 50/50 co-op with Red Lake Falls for girls basketball if it did so for volleyball and softball, which Red Lake Falls opposed. A 50/50 co-op is shared coaching and divvying games and practices at both schools.

The boys 50/50 co-op has its own mascot, the Rebels, for basketball, football and baseball.

In Blackwell’s ruling, he wrote that Red Lake Falls wants to preserve its Eagles identity and “rebuild its own girls basketball team.” He described Red Lake Falls’ declining Central’s proposals as “sex-neutral explanations.”

Chris Nelson said the girls basketball program is crumbling and players have quit in the midst of this dispute. Red Lake Falls’ arguing identity now, when that didn’t seem to be a concern for boys sports, is “B.S.,” he said.

Ultimately, the judge found the Nelsons’ request untimely. Co-ops must be submitted for MSHSL approval 30 days before the first practice. Blackwell said “Title IX does not require a district to accomplish what administrative and practical circumstances make impossible.”

However, there are factors, namely irreparable harm in a lost senior season she can’t get back, that “weigh strongly” in S.N.’s favor, Blackwell said.

“Morally, it’s a travesty,” he said. “Legally, I guess it’s fine.”