“Captain, we have encountered the Sioux Falls School District.”
The Title IX case concerning gymnastics has been interesting to watch. While I don’t have a dog in the fight, I do think that gymnastics is a legitimate high school sport, AND they had a very good case against the Sioux Falls School District. In fact, I was surprised the District didn’t concede before the hearing.
But what I found interesting in the judge’s injunction is how he dropped the athletic director and superintendent from the suit citing SCOTUS has concluded that individuals are normally dropped from these suits and only the ‘entity’ itself can be sued.
This happened recently in the Bunker House case against the city. The defendant claimed he was racially discriminated against and the city (the mayor) requested that these claims of racial bias be removed from the case. I don’t know what was said, or even if the mayor said it, but if he did, that racial bias is ON him and should not have been dropped from the case UNLESS the mayor can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he never said or did anything to discriminate.
While our local Federal Judge has no control over SCOTUS rulings and essentially wants to follow their case law I find it interesting that SCOTUS thinks individuals can’t be held liable for making bad decisions on behalf of the entity. I would have sued not only the Super and Athletic Director, but the entire school board and any staff associated with this decision.
People are NOT naive, we know since the Pam Homan days that decisions come directly from the administration and they hog house the board into going along with their poor planning.
Sorry SCOTUS but entities like school districts don’t make decisions on their own, PEOPLE do, and when those people make decisions that clearly violate Federal statutes they deserve to be sued in their official capacities AND should be permanently removed from their positions (fired).
I’m not sure how you can keep someone around who clearly advised the school board to make this decision and violate Federal law. If these are the kind of decisions she is making, do we want her running the District?
I also take issue with the fact the school district felt it necessary to spend district money fighting this. They could have probably funded the program for the next 3 years for what it cost in lawyering. I certainly am NO expert on Title IX law, but this seemed like a pretty good case that the district was going to lose. Who is giving them legal advice? Oh that’s right, no one, just the ‘ENTITY’.
Just to let you know, the decision was made by the school board as a body. The AD and the Superintendent may have advised, but the school board makes the decision. I think the advice the board received was budgetary, and did not focus much on the damage to female sports and the legal ramifications. Thus, the suit was brought. Title IX does not allow suit against individuals, and since the plaintiffs abandoned their equal protection claim, which can extend to individuals, the judge had no recourse but to dismiss the case against the two school district individuals.
It’s most likely what is called a public policy decision by the SCOTUS. If individuals working for the government could be sued for governmental decisions, then more decisions would not be made. Now, some might see this as a potential blessing, but it’s the same reason prosecutors can’t be sued for their actions or lack of actions due to prosecutorial discretion. The only exception I see to this rule is when there is an officer involved shooting, where in the case of South Dakota, the officer is then put on administrative leave while the DCI investigates the officer’s probable cause and reasonable use of force or not. Although, in South Dakota, they almost always rule in favor of the officer, if not every time so far in recent memory. 🙁
‘Personally, I think the people who need to be sued are the ones who came up with bottled water when tap water is pretty much free, whoever invented the gross walking taco, and the guy who designed, marketed, and initially sold the fanny pack”…. (…. “Actually, I would prefer to have them all sent to a Gulag in Serbia if it was all up to me”…. )
Just for fun, the Board should cancel marching band at Lincoln High. I wonder what would happen?
Here I thought the Gaza Strip was a shopping Center. And the Golan Heights? Well, a swanky place like Taupeville. And they may have a West Bank, but heck, we have an East Bank and with trains. Do they have any trains in their Bank?….. Or, is this all just too early?…. But what about a William McKinley assassination joke, are you guys ready for that one yet?
More scholastics, less Mean Girls? Gymnastics has no significance since Simone Biles broke all records. Whatever happened to Roller Derby? More girl fights, less Individual merit.
Taylor Swift and the NFL: The ultimate marketing gimmick. Taupeville should take note.
Raquel Welch might be dead, but Roller Derby should live. Title IX has a sexist quality to it, however, does it not? If it was a Title V, would we even care? AND, is there really such thing as a Title X? Only boxing uses large placard cards with numbers on them, but maybe Roller Derby could, too. Then, we could rate the participants with such cards. If you get a 9, then you have passed the grade. Any number less than 9 would not only be failing, but also one less entitled to your game….. But then again, maybe there’re some 11s out there after all… 😉 ……:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdPn01FOrZY
“Kevin McCarthy?”…… ( …. “WTF?”…. ) …..
“Say, did you guys see this one?”…. “Talk about a gutsy duck”… “Wow!”….:
https://twitter.com/TheOregonDuck/status/1713209088317006164
Serbia or Siberia, what the hell is the difference?
Totally understand NOT suing specific government employees for making bad decisions. But this wasn’t some budget error or policy run amuck, the Super and Athletic director advised the school board to break Federal law, and while I understand that they cannot be personally sued for those decisions, they can be fired and should be. I would also be curious what the legal fees are costing taxpayers? Maybe that should be taken from their pay? The district actually asked for the plaintiffs to pay their legal fees and the judge said ‘NO’. I guess I am just befuddled by the audacity. First you advise the board to make a very bad legal decision then you double down and think you can defend it in court. While I am NOT advocating anyone goes to jail, some people need to get pink slips.
Our school district is a tight group. Don’t forget, these are the same people who pushed for super precincts to suppress the vote, IMO, are not consistent on how they hold school board elections, in fact, that didn’t even advertise one of them. They create white high schools and black high schools. They even brought back MLK Day and Native American Day, after the “Save the Summer” concerns faded, except they did it without initially acknowledging what those days were suppose to be about, and rather just called them in-service days. OH, and how about the time some of us discovered a cross hanging from a window of the school district building?…. A district, I might add, which is suppose to be nonsecular and practice the principles of separation of church and state. They also like to protect Lincoln High, whether it be for marching band, tennis, or debate. LH is their favorite child….. AND, one more thing, I especially got a kick out of how the district did a very poor job of having everyone wear masks (board meetings) during the height of covid, yet, out school district promotes science and would love to have many of its students to go on and excel in the scientific world. Because their covid attitude, I thought, showed how tight this group is, and how they really have a strategy, as further demonstrated by this Title IX challenge, where they are willing to go down with their ship with all aboard at any cost in the name of consistency and imagine, and with a touch of an arrogant inherency when it comes to their overall application of public policy…
If we can afford a $20 million bridge for the Land of Cherapa, then I think our community can afford gymnastics for the girls.