The lawsuit was filed in Norfolk Superior Court on behalf of the mother of a 17-year-old student at The Education Cooperative Connections Academy (TECCA), a statewide online public school in Massachusetts that serves students in grades K-12.
At the center of the suit, is a request to allow the student to play lacrosse at Duxbury High School next spring, where he previously played.
In the suit, pseudonyms are used for both the student and the mother.
“Jimmy” enrolled at TECCA in 2021 and utilized an MIAA waiver to play junior varsity lacrosse in the spring of 2022, the lawsuit said. That waiver is similar to ones utilized by home-schooled students or students enrolled in a district’s virtual school.
“The Duxbury athletic and academic administrations worked together to apply for the waiver, and it was granted without any controversy or fanfare,” the lawsuit reads.
Nick O’Donnell of Sullivan & Worcester is the lead attorney in the case and describes “Jimmy” as a “prolific youth hockey player, who plays for a junior league team on Cape Cod that recruits players from around North America.”
“Jimmy’s achievements and talent have him in line to be recruited at the highest level of collegiate hockey, and very likely professional hockey as well,” the lawsuit said.
Due to his hockey schedule, which requires travel, “Jimmy” is unable to attend a traditional school, the lawsuit claims.
“Inexplicably, the rule change only targets students who attend a statewide virtual school like TECCA (open to all students in Massachusetts), but not students who attend a districtwide virtual school (open only to students otherwise eligible to enroll in the public schools located in that district),” the lawsuit reads.
MIAA executive director Bob Baldwin told the Boston Globe that the rule change was implemented to address issues raised by superintendents who voiced concerns that signing waivers to allow non-district virtual student-athletes to play sports within their district put them in uncomfortable situations.
The rule change went into effect July 1.
©2022 Advance Local Media LLC. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
