If you are a parent or guardian of a high school student-athlete in New Jersey (or a student who aspires to be one), you have likely been an important part of your student's efforts to improve their athletic skills while at the same time attending and succeeding in school. Practices, games, training sessions – you've made sure your student-athlete got to where they needed to be for their athletics. Homework, projects, and test prep – you've also been there when your student needed some academic help along the way. You've seen how hard they work and understand how important it is to them that they remain eligible to compete in interscholastic sports at school.
Eligibility is one additional area where you can be a big help. Student-athlete eligibility in New Jersey is governed by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) and, of course, by each student-athlete's high school. The NJSIAA constitution and bylaws run for over 90 pages and go into considerable detail about the various eligibility requirements that high school players are expected to meet before they can compete in New Jersey. By familiarizing yourself with some of the main eligibility provisions, you can help make sure that your student-athlete remains eligible to compete in their chosen sport or sports.
Unfortunately, not every eligibility question has an easy answer. For those that don't, or for situations where your student-athlete is at risk of losing eligibility, contact Joseph D. Lento. He and the Lento Law Firm have advised students in New Jersey and all over the United States on disciplinary and eligibility issues and can help you and your student.
What follows below are some of the main eligibility issues that high school student-athletes in New Jersey face.
Age-Limit and Semester-Limit Restrictions and Waiver Requests
Student-athletes in New Jersey who are 18 or under are eligible to compete in high school sports. In addition, if they turn 19 on or after September 1, they will remain eligible for the remainder of that school year (assuming that they are otherwise eligible).
Student-athletes have eight consecutive semesters of eligibility from 9th grade on or from the point at which the student began participating on a high school team if they began doing so before entering 9th grade.
Under limited circumstances, the application of both the age-limit and semester-limit rules may be waived by the NJSIAA. Students with a documented disability may be able to secure a waiver of both the age-limit and semester-limit rules. A waiver “will not be granted” where the student's disability classification is made just before the student enters high school or while the student is in high school.
The NJSIAA may also waive the age-limit rule for student-athletes who “as a result of circumstances beyond [their] control” would not be eligible for all eight of the possible semesters of competition. Waivers depend in part on whether the sport is a contact sport or a non-contact sport. For contact sports, the NJSIAA ruling on the waiver request will take the student's “size, agility, and skills” into consideration.
If your student-athlete is facing eligibility issues due to their age or the eight-consecutive semester limit, and you believe they may qualify for a waiver (whether because of a disability or because of circumstances beyond their control that prevented them from being able to compete for one or more semesters), contact student-athlete attorney Joseph D. Lento to discuss your situation. He and the Lento Law Firm have years of experience in New Jersey and other states, advising and representing students who are facing all types of eligibility issues.
Academic Eligibility Waiver Requests and Appeals
The NJSIAA does not have a GPA requirement for student-athletes. Instead, students must have passed a certain percentage of the classes they need for graduation during each semester in order to be eligible to compete the following semester.
New Jersey requires students to earn 120 high school credits to graduate. Student-athletes in 10th, 11th, and 12th grade must have passed classes totaling 30 credits during the previous academic year to be eligible to compete at the beginning of the next school year. (Students entering 9th grade are immediately eligible for first-semester competition.)
To be eligible to compete during the second semester of any school year, students must have passed classes totaling 15 credits during the first semester.
Individual schools may impose stricter academic standards on their students. It is important to check with your student-athlete's school to see whether their standards vary from the NJSIAA's.
Students who do not meet the second-semester passing requirement may be able to restore their eligibility as of May 1 during that semester if they are passing all of their courses as of the “third marking period” and have “accumulated 22.5 credits when grades are averaged for marking periods 1, 2, and 3.”
Summer school credits earned before the sixth school day of the fall semester may be used to satisfy academic eligibility requirements.
Waivers are available under certain circumstances. Where a student hasn't failed a course or withdraws while still passing the course but is unable to complete it and earn the required credits “for reasons not under the control of the student or the school,” the student may be granted a waiver by the NJSIAA.
Student-athletes who are facing a loss of eligibility as a result of being unable to complete one or more courses because of circumstances beyond their control can benefit from the experience and advice of Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm. Contact student-athlete attorney Lento to discuss your student's situation and learn how he may be able to help keep your student competing.
School Disciplinary Defense
Student-athletes who are suspended from school are ineligible to compete in sports in New Jersey. In addition, school codes of conduct routinely include suspension of extracurricular activities among the potential consequences of student misconduct. School investigations of student behavior are often flawed, however. Busy school administrators don't always have the time or expertise to conduct a full and proper investigation of allegations made against a student by teachers, staff, or other students, and when hearings or other types of review proceedings are conducted, they are not always fair to the accused student.
Joseph D. Lento has advised and represented students involved in serious disciplinary proceedings in high schools and colleges all over New Jersey and the United States. He and the Lento Law Firm understand how these processes work, and they also understand how to protect your student's rights. In addition, attorney Lento has the experience to be able to suggest to school administrators workable ways for student-athletes who are found to have engaged in misconduct to accept the consequences – while still remaining eligible to compete. If your student-athlete is in a disciplinary situation at school where their eligibility to play is threatened, you want Joseph D. Lento on your team.
Discipline Defense for Behavior During Games
A student-athlete who is disqualified or ejected from a game for “unsportsmanlike flagrant verbal or physical conduct” will also be disqualified from the next game (for football) or the next two games (for all other sports). A disqualification cannot be appealed.
If the student-athlete is disqualified a second time, the penalty will be doubled. If they are disqualified a third time, they will be suspended indefinitely from competition and must apply to the NJSIAA (through their principal) for reinstatement.
In addition to being ejected by an official during a competition, school principals may file accusations with the NJSIAA Executive Committee that a particular student has violated the “accepted standards of good sportsmanship.”
While ejections made by officials are typically not appealable to the NJSIAA, a complaint filed against a student by another team (through the other school's principal) is one that will normally involve a hearing by the NJSIAA Executive Committee. In such a case, it can make all the difference to have the help of experienced student-athlete attorney Joseph D. Lento. He and the Lento Law Firm Team can help gather information in defense of your student-athlete and will fight to protect their rights before the NJSIAA.
The use of performance-enhancing drugs by student-athletes is also considered to be a form of unsportsmanlike conduct. If a student-athlete fails an NJSIAA test, the NJSIAA may penalize the student; if the student-athlete fails a school-sponsored test, the school is required to punish the student. Joseph D. Lento can help with either situation; drug tests are not always 100 percent accurate, and there are many instances where athletes fail tests due to using prescribed medicines for legitimate medical conditions. Student-athlete attorney Lento and the Lento Law Firm can help you make sure that a sloppy drug test doesn't derail your student-athlete's eligibility.
Transfer Eligibility Issues
The NJSIAA has one of the most liberal school transfer policies in the country. Students who transfer high schools because their parents or guardians have made a “bona fide change of residence” are immediately eligible to compete for their new school. There are some important dates to keep in mind, however; the move must have happened on or before August 1 for the student to be eligible for the fall sports season; November 1 for the winter sports season; and March 1 for the spring sports season.
Students who transfer to a new school without there being a “bona fide change of residence” must wait for the lesser of 30 calendar days or one-half of the maximum number of games allowed by NJSIAA rules for their sport before they can compete for their new school's team (in a sport that the student competed in at their old school). If the student transfers after the start of the NJSIAA competition start date for their sport, they are not eligible to compete in post-season championship games for their new school.
Appeals of the 30-day wait period are not possible. The NJSIAA defends this by noting that 30 days “is recognized as one of the most lenient penalties in the United States.”
That said, in “rare instances” where a student transfers because of “bullying at the previous school,” the NJSIAA will accept a decision by the student-athlete's old school, after an investigation, that the student was bullied and that transfer to a new school is “the proper action to remediate the complaint.”
The Athletic Advantage Transfer
Another issue that can be appealed is a determination that the student transferred schools for athletic purposes. When a student transfers schools, the two schools submit a Transfer Form to the NJSIAA. If either school believes the student-athlete is transferring for an “athletic advantage,” they can indicate that on the form, and the NJSIAA will withhold eligibility until the Eligibility Appeals Committee makes a decision on the complaint.
The factors that can trigger a determination that a student-athlete is transferring for an academic advantage include allegations that the student is seeking to play for a better team or one that is more aligned with the student-athlete's abilities; that the student wants to be coached by a coach at the new school; that the student has a conflict with staff at the old school that they want to avoid; or others.
If your student-athlete is considering making a transfer and you believe their old school may try to portray it as one seeking an athletic advantage, or if they have already made the accusation, contact student-athlete attorney Joseph D. Lento for help. An unfavorable ruling from the NJSIAA Eligibility Appeals Committee could have your student sitting out for longer than 30 days as a result of a disciplinary proceeding. Joseph D. Lento and his team at the Lento Law Firm can help you defend your student-athletes decision and give your student the best chance at being cleared by the NJSIAA to compete at their new school.
When Your Student-Athlete Needs Help, Contact Joseph D. Lento
Student-athlete attorney Joseph D. Lento can help keep your student eligible to compete in the sports that they love. He and the Student Defense Team at the Lento Law Firm regularly represent students and student-athletes facing disciplinary and eligibility issues in New Jersey, and they understand the rules, the procedures, and how schools and organizations such as the NJSIAA operate. Call Joseph D. Lento today at 888.535.3686 or through the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team's online contact form. He is there to listen and help.
