Metro

SPORTS

Slam Dunk

Alan FlItsky
Associate Editor

A

fter nearly four years of argu-
ments, hearings and emergency
motions, an Oakland County
Circuit Court judge has completely
backed the Frankel Jewish Academy of
Metropolitan Detroit (FJA) in its case
against the Michigan High School Athletic
Association.
In a 32-page ruling handed down Feb.
6, Judge Rae Lee Chabot said the MHSAA
must make "reasonable efforts" to sched-
ule state tournament events around the
Jewish Sabbath and holidays.
John Johnson, MHSAA communica-
tions director, said his organization would
appeal the judge's
ruling.
The
He said there
would
be no further
MHSAA
comment from the
will appeal MHSAA.
The FJA filed the
the judge's
case after its boys'
ruling.
baseball team was
nearly bounced
from the state
tournament by the
MHSAA in 2004.
The team won its first-round game,
but the district final was scheduled for
Saturday. Host Southfield Christian High
School was willing to play the final on
Monday, the rain date, but the MHSAA
asked Southfield Christian to hold to
the original schedule. A court order
allowed the FJA team to play the game on
Monday.
That fall, the MHSAA denied the FJA's
membership renewal application. In effect,
that would have prevented any of the 900
high schools in Michigan that are MHSAA
members from competing against FJA
teams.
Judge Chabot at the time ordered the
FJA reinstated, but not before several of
its female swimmers, practicing and com-
peting as part of the Shrine High School
team in Royal Oak, were forced to leave
the team.
The FJA competes in the Detroit-area
Catholic League. FJA Athletic Department
Head Michael Sandweiss said regular-
season schedules are handled by the ath-
letic directors "and the Catholic League

Photo by Patti Shay ne

Judge rules MHSAA must accommodate Frankel Jewish Academy athletes.

The Frankel Jewish Academy's Jessica Curhan and Elana Folby prepare to box out
an opponent last week. FJA defeated Conner Creek Academy, 36-26.

has been very supportive. It has a process Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) and
to move games and schools change them found:
all the time for a million different rea-
• The MHSAA was penalizing the
sons."
FJA student athletes for their religious
beliefs.
Witness Tesitifies
• There is no compelling state interest in
One of the witnesses in the case was FJA
enforcing current policy against games on
student Sam Yashinsky, a standout on
Sundays.
the academy's baseball and basketball
• The MHSAA could schedule tourna-
teams. Yashinsky was
ment games involving
named a McDonald's
FJA athletes on days
Athlete of the Year
other than the Jewish
and was a "walk on"
Sabbath.
with the University
• The MHSAA vio-
of Michigan varsity
lated ELCRA retalia-
baseball team last
tion provisions when
year.
it denied FJA mem-
Yashinsky testified
bership. For this vio-
that he was devastated
lation, Judge Chabot
as a player when he
ordered the MHSAA
to pay the FIRs attor-
learned his JFA bas-
ketball team might
ney fees.
FJA's Nathan Chesterman brings
not be allowed to play back the soccer ball.
Judge Chabot also
in the state tourna-
ruled that the MHSAA
policies violated the
ment because of
Michigan and U.S. constitutions.
games scheduled on Saturday. He told the
court that he felt like he was bargaining
Over the years, the Frankel Jewish
Academy has been represented in the case
with his religion for the "once-in-a-life-
by Steven Z. Cohen of Cohen, Lerner &
time" opportunity to participate in a state
athletic tournament.
Rabinovitz in Royal Oak, and by Michael
In her ruling Feb. 6, Judge Chabot
Curhan, of counsel to Lipson, Nielson in
used criteria from the federal Elliott
Bloomfield Hills.

Benefit To Many
Curhan, an FJA parent, said the judge's
decision "was what we asked for from
the beginning" and said it would ben-
efit "all high schools and all religious
schools!'
The key phrase, he said, is "reason-
able accommodation" and the ruling put
a mechanism in place to reach it. The
judge required FJA to give the MHSAA
copies of its school calendar and calen-
dar of Jewish holidays each year, with
the court overseeing any scheduling
disputes.
"Hopefully;' Curhan said, "this is the
beginning of a new day and going for-
ward we hope to work with the MHSAA."
He suggested that state tournament
games involving FJA athletes could be
scheduled to end on Fridays before
Shabbat begins or on Sunday afternoons,
for example.
He said individual schools "have been
incredibly cooperative" with the FJA.
During last year's state basketball tour-
nament, it was agreed in advance by the
four participating schools that the dis-
trict championship game would start on
Saturday after Shabbat ended if the FJA
team was a finalist.
Sandweiss said that last year, the bas-
ketball team "made a nice rue This year,
the team's first-round game is against
Novi Franklin Road Christian on Feb. 27.
Curhan would like to see the day when
the academy would win a state tourna-
ment, just like in the movie Hoosiers. But,
he said, it better happen soon because the
school's growing enrollment could force
it from Class D participation into Class C.
With more schools, a Class C state cham-
pionship is more difficult to win.
Curhan believes that the MHSAA will
argue in its appeal that it is a private orga-
nization and therefore not bound by anti-
discrimination laws. From the beginning,
Curhan said, "they have vowed to appeal
everything!'
Last year, a long-running case against
the MHSAA regarding the scheduling of
the girls' athletic seasons was decided
against the MHSAA when the U.S.
Supreme Court refused to hear an MHSAA
appeal. The case was first filed in 1998. 0

3N

February 21 • 2008

A19

