Private school students booted from Minneapolis public school sports

Amelia Backes is an eighth-grader at Carondelet Catholic School in south Minneapolis who just got cut from the public school's alpine ski team.

Poor performance did not doom her chances; enforcement of a long-ignored rule did.

"It's crushing," said 13-year-old Backes, one of six girls to qualify for last year's sectional race. "It was all so great. Now I might not be able to do that."

Backes was eliminated from the team after athletic officials decided that students not in public schools could no longer participate in taxpayer-funded sporting programs.

The change means dozens of seventh- and eighth-graders who were planning to compete on the alpine ski and tennis teams will no longer be able to participate in public school athletics. It has also sparked a larger discussion about whether Minneapolis school officials should be doing more to use sports to lure students into public schools.

For decades, there was nothing unusual about gifted junior high school students from private and charter schools competing in public school athletics.

A statewide policy allows seventh- and eighth-grade students at private, parochial and charter schools to participate in public school sports if they live in the district and their school does not offer a high school team.

The agreements have actually been required for years, but school officials have never enforced the rule, allowing private and charter schoolchildren to compete for slots on public school teams.

Minneapolis athletic officials say they have no intention of approving these agreements, instead allowing the cash-strapped athletic department to focus resources on their own students.

"We are not recommending a policy change, instead we are simply enforcing this existing policy consistently across our school district," said Dan Wicker, assistant director of athletics.

Wicker admits that "inconsistent agreements" were used in the past to allow students outside the district to participate in sports.

"We expect uniform compliance of this policy by all schools," Wicker said. "Enforcing our existing policy will allow us to concentrate resources on MPS students."

"Why fix something that's working?" Savage asked. "And if you do that, at least grandfather those kids that are already competing."

Karen Backes, Amelia's mom, Savage and other ski team volunteers recently asked the school board to consider allowing those who were already on the team last year to continue competing.

School board Chairman Richard Mammen said this issue falls outside the board's authority, but that he supports having the district sign agreements with the schools.

Mammen said the decision to follow the policy more closely came after the district's athletic department underwent significant leadership changes.

The district wanted more accountability and consistency across the district's seven high schools, he said.

But at a meeting with the athletic department this week, Savage said the district was not willing to compromise.

"We would have liked to have signed agreements, but the answer was no," Savage said. "None of the ideas were adopted."

At the school board meeting, the parents told board members that many of the private school students participating on the team eventually end up going to public high schools, which ultimately benefits the school district.

Savage said of the nine private school students who have been on the alpine ski team through the years, eight eventually went to public high schools.

"They pay their taxes as well and often make the decisions to move their kids to public schools," Savage said.

"If she doesn't ski this year, she will likely stick to swimming, and who knows what high school she will decide to attend," Backes said.

Mammen said that if sports is a way to draw those students into public schools, then the district should consider signing those agreements.

"If we focus on the needs of the kids, rather than the institutions, then we would meet their needs," Mammen said.