At the last HISD board meeting, trustees voted on the issue without a complete understanding of the facts. A second vote will be held on March 10th. It is very important that we let the board know where we stand on this issue. This is not just an attack on CVHS athletics. It reflects a strong anti-magnet sentiment among several board members. UIL athletics are just the first step in dismantling magnet programs.
Contact HISD Board members immediately. Encourage other parents, alumni families, friends, prospective families, other schools, and community members to contact the Board immediately. This affects ALL schools.
Attend the March 10 HISD Board meeting. We need a huge presence at this meeting to demonstrate the diversity and passion of our community! We need speakers from many schools, many neighborhoods, many cultures.
A more detailed explanation of the issues can be found here.
A summary of our main talking points are as follows:
- District policy allows schools to decide whether or not to participate in UIL sports. Some specialty schools that have applied for UIL athletics have been discouraged to apply by the HISD athletic department. This is a direct violation of fair access.
- The policy of requiring students at specialty schools to wish to play UIL sports to travel to their zoned campus is, more often than not, logistically impossible. Students could only participate if practice schedules and private transportation allowed. This denies UIL access to thousands of students at the 21 specialty schools within HISD.
- UIL sports are funded by individual schools. Club sports are funded by individual students. By restricting specialty schools to offer only club sports, it imposes a financial burden on students who wish to participate, and restricts participation to those with financial means. Again, this ultimately restricts student access to athletics.
- Athletics at the UIL level are more demanding and require a greater commitment than those at the club or intramural level. They are an important part of a college bound culture. Denying our college preparatory schools access is inherently unfair.
- Magnet applications were submitted in December. Applicants had to indicate their preference by ranking schools. Those who chose CVHS because of its combination of strong academics and UIL athletic programs will have no recourse to attend another magnet school.
- "Phasing out" our program over two years effectively kills the program in the next year. It will be very difficult to field teams when the programs will be eliminated long before incoming students graduate.
Please contact board members on both sides of this issue to emphasize that all specialty schools can benefit from UIL athletic programs. The decision should be made by individual schools, not by the District Executive Committee and the large zoned high schools who make up its membership. We want fair access for all students.
Those who voted to uphold current policy allowing decisions about UIL athletics participation to be made at the individual school level were:
