Times-Leader
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To the editor:
It has come to my attention through the Times-Leader (“Policy question,” April 29, Page 1A) that the Hamilton County School Board is grappling with making a decision about shooting at an out-of- town gun club.
First, let’s get a little history.
The school started a trapshooting team through the SCTP (Scholastic Clay Target Program). At that time, I was the head coach.
During that time, the director of shooting sports allowed a few players from Carmi to fill in at one shoot to complete a team. These kids wanted to join our team, but that was not allowed by the board. I told the kids I would start a team for them, and I did.
The first year, the Fox Fire team won third and fourth in the state championships. The second year, they won fifth in state in varsity.
This same year, the Carmi team won second in state in the JV Division (with no members from Hamilton County).
This year, one boy from our high school wanted to shoot for the Carmi Trap Club. After checking with the state SCTP director, it was approved for him to shoot for the Carmi club. This is where the trouble started.
For reasons not stated, the board doesn’t want anyone shooting at a private club. (The boy’s) reasons were that he wanted to shoot with the same group that he started with and went to shoots with. He also wanted more shooting practice and top coaching to try and win a scholarship. He was accepted this year with a shooting scholarship at Lindenwood College in Missouri.
It was implied that the reason a second student here went to Carmi was because of loyalty to his first and only coach, after that coach left. Is loyalty something we want to teach our children not to have?
Assuming that was a reason, it was not the main reason. He played football, and when the (football) season was over, there were two (trap) practices and one shoot left.
He was told he would have to pay $200 to include the fall and spring shooting. This was full price for one-fifth of the season. It was later negotiated to $160.
I offered him the money and he refused, saying it was unfair. I agree. There again, they lost another shooter.
The third student had tried to register (for the Hamilton County trap team) and was told he was a day late. At that time, I didn’t even know him.
He came to practice (at the Carmi club) with another shooter and asked if he could shoot with us. I told him there was a team at McLeansboro, and he said he wanted to shoot at Carmi.
I allowed him to participate and didn’t know about him being denied until I read it in the paper. There again, the loss of another shooter.
Is the board going to attempt to lose another football and baseball player? Again, I call this cutting your nose off to spite your face.
Now for the reasons I no longer coach here: I was asked by two board members to not quit, that they wanted me to stay, but if I did, the board wouldn’t allow me to coach anywhere else.
If you volunteer to help your neighbor, should you be told you can’t help the neighbor on the other side? I think not.
Another objection was making the kids pay $200 to be able to shoot. I had always raised the money to help. I was told there was no reason to raise money, that we didn’t need to.
Another charming item is charging them $100 in the spring to shoot, when the school, by its own resolution, had voted to pay all of the costs in the spring. This wasn’t right. Are you going to reimburse the students their $100, or are you going to do the opposite of what you voted on (not following your own resolution)?
When I applied for and received a $5,000 grant from Friends of the NRA, it was stated that we did not charge a “user’s fee.” The grant was used to purchase guns for the team. Now future grants will be in jeopardy because (our) shooters have to pay to participate.
These are the reasons that I am no longer a part of the trap team here.
In speaking to a board member, I asked him if he knew why some of the students had left, and he didn’t know. I suggested he ask and find out.
He stated emphatically that he did not have the time, nor was he going to “micromanage” the staff. In my opinion, he could care less why, he just wanted to stop it.
He stated that if they had a problem, they should bring it to the board. My thought is: It’s the same distance.
I suggest to any board member: If you don’t have the time to know or find out what is going on, perhaps you should resign and let someone who cares have a chance at it.
In speaking to another board member, I stated that this is a gross violation of their constitutional rights and that “You know it isn’t right.”
He stated, “I know it isn’t right, but you know how it is around here.” Well, I don’t know how it is around here!
To punish a student for participating in a non-school activity, not on school time and not on school property, is definitely a violation of the student’s constitutional rights.
If they care to do a little research, they will find several things in their athletic rules that are unconstitutional. For example, if an 18-year-old wants to chew tobacco after school and off school property, there is nothing the school can do. (I DON’T ENDORSE THIS AND RECOMMEND THEY DON’T SMOKE, CHEW OR DRINK.)
If the board could tell you what you do on your own time, what will be next? Will they punish you for playing Legion ball, volleyball or anything else you do? Can you practice music or take lessons elsewhere? Can you play your fiddle uptown with the boys?
Can’t join the Boy Scouts? They have shooting.
Can you be a 4-H member? They are starting a shooting program.
Furthermore, if you have another student who leaves to shoot at Carmi and doesn't participate and never has in any other sport, how are you going to punish him? Tell him he can't do something that he never cared about anyway.
Remember: Equal protection under the law. Is it possible you are attempting to discriminate against one particular student? Discrimination went out a long time ago. Do you people think you can re-invent it? You might tell the public how many people this applies to.
I might add that (trapshooting) is not an (Illinois High School Association)-sanctioned sport. The SCTP is governed by the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation. The IHSA has no say whatsoever.
How many of you have read the SCTP (Scholastic Clay Target Program) Handbook? That’s what I thought.
If your counsel is telling you that you can violate anyone’s constitutional rights, I suggest you retain competent counsel. A school cannot ban a student from extracurricular activities on the basis of a child’s preference to participate in a private club.
The school board has no jurisdiction to tell you what you can do or not do on your own time, outside the school and not on school property or school-sponsored activity. The school also cannot mandate that you participate in any sport.
With respect to the school’s ability to dictate what a child does off school grounds and after school hours, the term we refer to is “in loco parentis.” Actually, the school is overstepping the bounds of this doctrine if it passes this resolution.
I fear that, if passed, this will be contested. It has been contested many times by the federal Civil Liberties Union.
That being stated, it is my opinion that the school board should concentrate on the actual problem, rather than attempting to provide a cure to a problem they don’t even understand.
I agree that there should be some resolutions passed.
The first one should be that the board is required to follow the resolutions that they have already passed.
The second should be to refund all of the money collected after the board — by resolution — paid for all of the shooting in the spring.
The third should be that the board should ensure that they are given accurate information by their “sources.”
Gary Nelson
McLeansboro
