Member schools of the Michigan High School Athletic Association have overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the organization's constitution that will allow for waiver of the association's age limit under certain circumstances.
In a vote of schools conducted this month, 701 of 1,535 MHSAA member senior high and junior high/middle schools cast legal ballots, and 94 percent approved of the change - well in excess of the two-thirds majority required. The association's existing rule states that a student who turns 19 prior to Sept. 1 of a given school year is no longer eligible to participate in interscholastic athletics.
The issue made national news in March, when Dean Dompierre - whose son, Eric, has Down syndrome and will be 20 for the 2012-13 academic year at Ishpeming High School because he started elementary school later due to his disability - began a petition campaign on Change.org after the MHSAA disqualified Eric for next year. More than 93,400 people from around the world have signed the petition. Eric Dompierre kicks extra points for the Hematites and was featured on UpperMichigansSource.com's "Play of the Week" in March for a "nothing but net" shot. The MHSAA stood firm on its refusal to alter the rule until earlier this month, when the decision to let member schools vote on the issue was made following passage of a Michigan Senate Education Committee resolution urging the MHSAA to consider adding the waiver.
As a result of the schools' votes, the association's age rule may now be waived by the MHSAA's Executive Committee. Here is a summary of the new rule:
• Prior to the waiver request by the member school, the student's educational progress must have been delayed prior to initial enrollment in the ninth grade solely because of a medically documented disability under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act or Michigan's Persons With Disabilities Civil Rights Act.
• At the time of the waiver request, the student must have a defined disability documented to diminish both physical and either intellectual or emotional capabilities, does not create a health or safety risk to participants and does not create a competitive advantage for the team. The burden of proof rests with the school seeking the wavier.
• For those most disabled students to which a waiver is granted, the maximum age rule would be extended one year. The four-year maximum enrollment limit would still apply.
• The rule also has a waiver provision at the junior high/middle school level for seventh and eighth grade athletics.
Said John E. "Jack" Roberts, executive director of the MSHAA, "Our challenge now is to demonstrate to the negative voters and to those many schools which didn't cast a vote at all, that this is a narrow gate that preserves the integrity of the program as effectively as the previous rule that was so well understood and respected."
As of this writing, the Dompierre family had not publicly responded to the vote.
