Reminder From The Obama Administration

On Friday, the Obama administration issued a stern reminder. The U.S. Department of Education said schools must give students with disabilities equal opportunities to participate in extracurricular athletics, including varsity sports. And if existing sports don’t meet the needs of those students, schools must create additional athletic programs.
Bernard Childress, executive director of the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association says, “We’ve been doing this for years.” “An example, let’s say, we had a deaf kid in track and wants to run the 100-meter-dash and they couldn’t hear the gun, so you make an adjustment to use a flag. Put it up where they can actually see it,” Childress said.
Under the law, schools cannot deny a student with disabilities a slot on a sports team because a coach believes he or she can’t compete. Schools that don’t comply could lose federal funding.