The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA), acting on a request by a Knox County student, has changed a rule on athletic eligibility for students who transfer to home-schooling or online-only instruction, State Sen. Andrew Brenner (R-Delaware) told the Mount Vernon News.
The student, a volleyball player, was enrolled at the beginning of the school year in a Knox County school. But when he opted for online instruction, it left him ineligible to continue playing on the team.
"The mask requirements came into play, so the student withdrew and enrolled in online school," Brenner said.
The student wanted to continue playing volleyball for his old school. But under the previous rule, the student would have been barred from playing on that team.
The OHSAA had a rule prohibiting a student-athlete enrolled in one school from changing to another school during the same year, Brenner explained.
"The idea is that if you have a star quarterback who doesn't like the way the season is going, you don't want to let them enroll in another school and compete against their home school," Brenner said. "So if you change schools during the school year, you have to sit out the remainder of that season."
On the other hand, the rules allow students who are home-schooled at the beginning of the school year to participate in the athletics in their district, said Brenner.
Since the Knox County student had dis-enrolled from in-person instruction after the school year had already begun, he was considered ineligible to play sports this year, Brenner said.
"I could understand if the student had left to go play for another school, but that is not what happened here," said the senator. "The Ohio Athletic Association met with me; we talked about it. Then their board met and changed the rule."
The rule change was just for this school year, but Brenner hopes it will be a permanent change.
"With COVID-19, we are in a situation where a lot of school policies are slightly different," he said.
