3 students at Northern Guilford could be ineligible for team : News-Record.com : Greensboro & the Triad's most trusted source for local news and analysis

GREENSBORO — At least three students will be ruled ineligible to play football for Northern Guilford this fall because they live outside the high school’s attendance zone, sources told the News & Record on Thursday.

Two of the students played on the Nighthawks’ junior varsity team last year, according to sources familiar with Guilford County Schools’ ongoing investigation into Northern. The third student transferred to the school this year and worked out with the football team in anticipation of playing for the Nighthawks in the fall.

Jill Wilson, the school system’s attorney who is handling the investigation, declined this week to discuss any findings until the probe is completed.

That should come next week, when Wilson expects to conclude her investigation and turn over her findings to school system officials.

“We’re still getting information and we need to synthesize it all,” Wilson said.

Sources said Wilson met with the students’ parents and their lawyers this month and informed them that their legal residence makes them ineligible to attend Northern Guilford.

The News & Record is not reporting the names of the students because they are minors and no laws were broken.

It was unclear Thursday what penalties — if any — Northern’s junior varsity football team would incur for using ineligible players. It also was unclear if the players competed in any varsity games last year.

Northern’s athletics director, Ronnie Hayes, could not be reached for comment Thursday. Nighthawks football coach Johnny Roscoe has not returned phone calls this week seeking comment.

Earlier this year, investigators determined that parents of students playing varsity boys basketball, varsity baseball, junior varsity softball and varsity wrestling falsified addresses to attend Northern Guilford. A cheerleader also was ruled ineligible.

In May, the N.C. High School Athletic Association placed Northern on probation for one year because Northern administrators failed to detect the falsified addresses.

Que Tucker, the association’s deputy executive director, said at the time that Northern Guilford showed a “blatant disregard for the rules of eligibility.”

The ineligible students also cost the school a state 3-A basketball title, forfeits in all competitions in which they competed, $1,250 in fines and $7,828 in basketball playoff gate receipts.

In this latest instance, more fines and forfeitures could come if NCHSAA and school system officials again determine that Northern’s administrators should have known the athletes’ addresses were falsified.

Northern Guilford principal Will Laine said earlier this week that he had not heard from school system officials about the investigation in recent weeks.

“When the county’s ready to announce something, we’ll address it then,” Laine said, “but right now we’re more worried about getting everything in order on the instructional side of things than (the investigation).”

Contact Robert Bell at 373-7055 or robert.bell@news-record.com

elormars

July 24, 2009 - 6:06 am EDT

if a student is eligible to transfer to any school they should be eligible to participate in all activities offered by that school. as much as I don't like the practice of bringing in students just for a certain activity or subject, if they are legal in their acceptance, then they have to be allowed to participate in all offerings of that school, if not, the student is being penalized and that's not right.

bigwill

July 24, 2009 - 8:43 am EDT

As long as the student that transferred is a justifiable transfer and has nothing to do with the school recruiting the student, I don't see a problem with them playing. Unfortunately, since it is hard to prove that in most cases there is a year sit out regulation that must be followed to ensure proper sportsmanship is being followed.

dcolin

July 25, 2009 - 2:42 pm EDT

"sportsmanship"?

What the hell is that?

That went out with Bobby Jones and Grantland Rice.

Panacea

July 24, 2009 - 7:07 pm EDT

If the student does not live in the attendance zone for Northern, then they are not eligible to play sports. They must sit out one year after transferring for approved reasons (academics, legal move, etc)

oppenheimer

July 24, 2009 - 10:39 am EDT

"bigwill", I dont think you really understand the essence of the investigation. The investigation is centered around the parents using "blantantly false" information to register their kids in at Northern. Some of those kids have attended as much as 3 schools. Terry Grier burned alot of people some time ago because of eligibility. Alot of good people got hurt because of this very issue, which was not based on malice, but not dotting the I's or crossing the T's. This situation here is about malice and specifice intent. Northern was well aware of what was going on and they allowed it. The parents knew what was going on and they were complicit. Those kids should be sent back to the school of their origin, and the parents, as well as Northern's administrators should be prosecuted. As far as as the kids sitting out for a year, that might be a little Draconian. The wrong people will be punished. Roscoe is still the head coach, and coach k is still rolling in the dough. He will get another job somehwere.Yeager and Forrest will be okay. The only punishment that these kids should get is a lesson in character development from a wooden Board of Education, and as my mother used to say "Once you spank them, let them go out and play".
As for Que Tucker, she nor anyone from Chapel Hill should not say anything. They should have a dossier on coach K anyway. They knew what was going on but but did nothing. Oh, I am sorry, they did take away their money and put back in their accounts. They let Guilford County foot the bill, but they took Northern's money.
The kids at Northern should be shaking in their boots right now, as well as the parents. If I were part of the DA, I would prosecute the parents for giving false information to a government entity.

jhurley

July 24, 2009 - 12:54 pm EDT

Why can't our high schools down here just go to open enrollment? I lived in Michigan my senior year in high school, just outside Detroit, and they have open enrollment and this kind of thing isn't an issue. Students are assigned to there home school, but they can opt to transfer to another school and if the school has space and the child or parents can provide their own transportation, then they can go. It did lead to some schools having better sports teams, but so what?????? If we had this open enrollment as a policy, then we wouldn't be wasting time and money on this investigation!

ross

July 24, 2009 - 6:09 pm EDT

GCS is not wasting my money when the end result is a level playing field for my son to compete on.

DaveW

July 27, 2009 - 12:19 pm EDT

That is what I have been looking for for years--A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD. Student/athletes NEED TO PLAY FOR THE SCHOOL IN THEIR ATTENDANCE ZONE PERIOD. Recruiting is for collegiate athletes and coaches!

July 24, 2009 - 7:09 pm EDT

Because those aren't the rules here. North Carolina has rules that are intended to ensure fairness between schools for athletes.

Schools weren't built for students to play sports. They were built to teach academics.

July 25, 2009 - 5:53 pm EDT

"They were built to teach academics"

Given the EOC results you would never know that

July 24, 2009 - 12:55 pm EDT

give me a break, no one is going to be prosecuted, I mean we can't even get REAL criminals in jail for the crimes they commit, you think that providing a false address so your kid can go to a certain high school is criminal-get real!

July 24, 2009 - 6:30 pm EDT

We let the Greensboro Police Department take care of the "real" criminals and the N.C. High School Athletic Association deal with the blatant disregard of the rules of eligibility.I'm just glad this is cleared up before football season starts.

July 24, 2009 - 7:11 pm EDT

You confuse civil and criminal offenses.

Violating academic and athletic rules are civil violations. Possession of pot is a criminal offense. The former gets you disqualified from sports. The latter gets you in jail.

unc4life

August 4, 2009 - 12:04 pm EDT

Schools should stick to educating our kids and drop it's sports programs. Here is why! If your kid is academically gifted and has an interest in a certain subject, he can transfer to a school that has a special academy for that particular subject. For example, Dudley and Page have academies. This enhances your kid's chance of getting a scholarship to a great school. It does not matter what district your kid lives in. For a gifted athlete who wants to play for the best coach and the best school, the door is slammed in his face. Why shouldn't this kid be allowed to get the best training for his talent? He wants a scholarship to the best schools just like the academically gifted kid. Most schools have terrible sports programs with bad coaches. On top of that they struggle to fund these programs. Let our schools educate and create private clubs for sports.

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