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COLUMBUS - The Eighth District Court of Appeals issued a decision Thursday that allows the Ohio High School Athletic Association to sanction Cleveland Metropolitan School District and Glenville High School.
As a result, the OHSAA is able to enforce its Oct. 29 decision to remove Glenville from the playoffs. Hunting Valley University School will advance to play a Division III regional quarterfinal game at Salem tonight.
"The OHSAA and our member schools are committed to the integrity and fairness of our tournaments," Doug Ute, OHSAA Executive Director, said in a statement. "While it is a difficult decision to remove students from a tournament, all member schools must abide by the rules and regulations that they have voted into place and that the OHSAA works to enforce."
The appeals court decision Thursday came after Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas by Judge Andrew J. Santoli ruled in favor of Cleveland Glenville on Tuesday after two days of hearings, ruling the OHSAA's decision to remove Glenville from the playoffs was arbitrary and preceded the completion of the eligibility investigation.
Santoli previously issued a temporary restraining order after the OHSAA removed Glenville from the Division III, Region 9 playoffs late last week as part of an ongoing investigation into Cleveland Metropolitan School District allegedly inaccurately assigning student participation opportunities to Glenville.
Glenville, the No. 5 seed in the region, was scheduled to host No. 12 seed Hunting Valley University School. The game was canceled after the OHSAA announced it was removing Glenville from the playoffs.
The alleged issues stem from students who attend Ginn Academy, which is a non-member magnet school that does not offer sports and is under the control of Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Students who attend Ginn Academy can only participate in athletics at the Cleveland Metro school that is closest to their residence.
Last Friday Santoli ordered through a temporary restraining order for the game between Glenville and University School to be played pending the outcome of the full hearing. Glenville players took the field on Saturday morning to warm up for a re-scheduled game but University School said in a statement it was not participating and would await the outcome of the legal proceedings.
“The District is aware of today's ruling by the 8th District Court of Appeals. While we are disappointed for our Glenville scholars and their families, we respect the authority of the Court. We're extremely proud of all our student-athletes for their hard work, perseverance, and achievements this year, both on and off the field,” CMSD said in a statement through communications officer Jon Benedict following Thursday’s ruling. “While this case focused on Glenville, this process has brought to light the significant challenges faced by high-mobility student populations. We want to recognize the heavy burden this placed on our scholars and their families, as it would have at many CMSD schools and other urban school districts. CMSD is committed to working with the OHSAA to improve its eligibility rules to ensure all scholars, regardless of their circumstances, have access to the same opportunities as other student-athletes.”
University School, which will now play Salem tonight, also issued a statement.
“University School has taken and continues to take direction from the OHSAA. Our players and coaches have been preparing for a playoff football game for the last two weeks and, per the OHSAA, we are now solely focused on our matchup with Salem on Friday evening.”
The OHSAA says will continue to work with Cleveland Metropolitan School District regarding the participation opportunities for non-enrolled students within their district.
In prior statements from the OHSAA, the organization says it requested student residential information from Cleveland Metropolitan School District on September 28. The OHSAA received an initial batch of information from CMSD on Oct. 22, it stated. Last week, in a meeting with Glenville, "the school did not object to the findings of the OHSAA audit."
The OHSAA also released in a prior statement that the lawsuit last Friday was brought by two student-athletes from Glenville, not by Cleveland Metropolitan School District or Glenville High School.
The OHSAA said since the middle of last week, Glenville and Cleveland Metro has submitted conflicting residential documentation of numerous student-athletes on the Glenville football team.
The information from the OHSAA also states that 63 of the 64 student-athletes on the Glenville football roster this season do not attend Glenville High School and "Cleveland Metro has not successfully proven that many of those student-athletes should have been participating at Glenville."