A high school ‘transfer portal’ on LHSAA docket

by Ron Brocato

By Ron Brocato, Sports
Clarion Herald

Over the decades of my career as a sports writer, I’ve seen enough fantastical occurrences to write another book.

But never in my wildest imagination would I ever have envisioned a student transfer portal at the high school level.

That may change with a click of the voting devices at the Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s annual convention in January because the body’s executive committee has proposed allowing a student to transfer to another school out of his or her attendance zone one time and immediately become eligible to participate in sports once the student reaches ninth grade.

You read that correctly.

One of the agenda items up for a vote by simple majority, when the 300-plus principals of LHSAA member schools get together on Jan. 30, will be a one-time transfer proposal, which several coaches and athletic directors have discussed at their particular meetings.

And all it will need is a simple majority of “yeas” to become a rule.

I found it hard to believe that a 104-year-old organization that was a stickler for eligibility consistency would make such a drastic change until I took a peek at the wording of the proposal.

Executive authors

The one-time transfer amendment, written by the association’s executive committee, would allow a student to be considered a transfer student if he or she, after establishing athletic eligibility, changes attendance at another school for any reason. And there is no restriction if a student transfers from a public to a non-public, a member or non-member school or a school outside the original school’s attendance zone.

A student entering a member school for the first time will be eligible to participate in all interscholastic athletics. But the student will also have the option of a one-time transfer outside of his or her attendance zone during the student’s high school career.

The proposal also includes a clause that states once a student has established eligibility in the ninth grade, the student may be granted sub-varsity eligibility in his or her home attendance zone if the student has already used the one-time transfer rule.

I’ll need more clarification on that notation.

The amendment states: “If a student transfers schools under the one-time transfer rule, he/she shall be eligible to participate in interscholastic athletic competition at any level of play in all sports at the receiving school.”

Meeting the criteria

Of course, there is a provision that the transferring student may not have participated in a scrimmage, jamboree or regular-season game in the current sport’s season and has officially withdrawn from his or her former school. The transferring student must also have been academically eligible at the time of the transfer.

Changing schools inside and outside of a school’s athletic attendance zone differs. “Inside” the attendance zone is loosely defined as the nearest school to a student’s residence. There are provisions to protect such schools from blatant transfers:

A student will be ineligible for a period of one calendar year at the new school unless the transfer takes place under the following exceptions:

Under the one-time transfer rule.
“Majority to Minority Transfer” as written into a federal court desegregation order.
Transfer from academically unacceptable schools pursuant to the Louisiana School and District Accountability System.
Homeless students as defined by the Federal McKinney-Vento Act who go through the hardship appeal process and are approved through the Hardship Program.

There are other exceptions. For instance, in the event a member school closes or is suspended from membership in the LHSAA, all students who have been in attendance at the school for at least a year may become eligible at an LHSAA school of their choice in the same athletic attendance zone where the closing school is located.

The same principle applies to schools that merge.

If a new LHSAA member school is added to that zone, a student will have the option to transfer to the new school and become immediately eligible to participate in athletics in that school’s first year of operation.

Change may be beneficial

The LHSAA’s explanation of the transfer rule is that it will offer multiple opportunities to students to enhance or pursue other academic options that best meet their needs in schools that are outside their attendance zones. This one-time transfer would allow those students to pursue academic programs at other schools without losing their ability to participate in varsity athletics.

The proposal comes with a disclaimer that all recruiting penalties remain in place to deter any transfer for athletic purposes and that a student at the receiving school understands the risks of losing his or her varsity starting positions due to the transfer.

I believe the LHSAA’s intention is to offer some leeway in transfer cases and ward off future litigation when athletic eligibility is questioned by parents or in the courts by slick attorneys.

Several state athletic associations have adopted similar transfer rules. The LHSAA is just getting on the bandwagon.

That’s called covering all legal bases. And I see no scenario that would cause the principals to vote against this transfer rule.

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