If your child is a student-athlete at one of Mississippi's more than 200 high schools that belong to the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MSHAA), you already know what an important place sports plays in their lives. In addition to the time your student-athlete spends in school and at home keeping up with their studies, they devote hours and hours staying in shape, training, practicing, and competing in the sport or sports that they love. This extra level of commitment helps them develop not only as athletes but as individuals who understand that there are benefits to working hard, doing extra, and being part of a team.
Even apart from the fact that some high school student-athletes may be fortunate enough to continue to compete at the collegiate and even professional level, it's important to your student-athletes well-being to be able to compete throughout their high school career. That's why it's so important to make sure that they continue to be eligible to practice and play and why the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team has put together this summary of some of the MHSAA's most important eligibility rules and regulations.
While the MHSAA does publish a comprehensive handbook that includes its constitution, bylaws, and other information about the association, at over 150 pages, it can sometimes be difficult to locate the information you need. This summary focuses on common eligibility issues that the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team have encountered in their years of helping high school student-athletes all over the country stay eligible to compete. If, after reviewing it, you have questions about your student-athletes particular situation, contact the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team for help.
Age-Limit and Semester-Limit Restrictions and Exceptions
Students are generally eligible to compete in high school athletics in Mississippi until they turn 19. If they turn 19 before August 1 of a school year, they are ineligible to compete during that coming school year. If they turn 19 on or after August 1, they may continue to compete through that entire school year (assuming they meet all other eligibility rules).
Student-athletes may compete for four consecutive years beginning from when they enter 9th grade for the first time.
While the age limit rule may not be waived, the MHSAA Executive Committee does have the power to set aside the consecutive-year rule in cases where the student has experienced some sort of exceptional hardship that was outside their control and the control of their parents, their school, and the school system. An example of such hardship is a serious injury or illness that prevents the student-athlete from both attending school and participating in sports.
Hardship applications must be made promptly to the MHSAA Executive Director and can come from the student-athletes principal or their parent or guardian. Applications are made in writing and must be supported by sufficient evidence to justify the hardship request. The Executive Director will rule on the request and then submit the matter to the Executive Committee for review.
The Executive Committee will hold a hardship hearing, and the parent/guardian or principal must attend and present the case on behalf of the student-athlete to present their position. Following the hearing, the Executive Committee will make its ruling on the request. While there is no opportunity for an appeal of this ruling, the ruling may be submitted to "third-party arbitration." In this case, the arbitrator will decide whether the decision of the Executive Committee was "arbitrary, capricious, and lacked substantial evidence." Arbitration is expensive, however; a deposit of $3000 from the student's side is required and is forfeited if the arbitrator agrees with the Executive Committee.
In these kinds of cases, it can be extremely helpful to the application to have the help of an experienced student-athlete attorney-advisor, who can make sure the application includes as much support as possible and that it clearly and effectively makes a case for granting the request. The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team helps student-athletes all over the country with exception requests. If you believe your student-athlete may be eligible for a hardship exception, contact the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team to find out how they can help make your request as strong and as convincing as possible.
Academic Eligibility Requirements and Waiver Requests
Student-athletes must keep at least a 2.0 overall GPA (on a 4.0 scale) in order to be eligible to compete at the beginning of any school semester. In addition, the student-athlete must be making "satisfactory progress towards graduation," a requirement that the MHSAA says each school may interpret in its own way. Some schools may choose to check student-athlete progress at various times during the semester and use those results to determine whether a student can continue to compete. You should check with your child's high school if you're not sure about any additional requirements of this type.
Student-athletes entering 9th grade must have earned at least a 2.0 overall GPA in their 8th-grade courses in order to be eligible to compete at the beginning of 9th grade.
The student-athletes overall GPA is calculated twice: once at the end of the first semester and again at the end of the school year. The first-semester average only considers the student's first-semester courses, but the school-year average considers the student's first and second-semester grades. This means that poor grades during the first semester will have an effect on their end-of-year average, so it's important to pay attention to grades all through the school year.
If the student-athlete fails to have at least a 2.0 average at the end of the school year and doesn't improve that average through a summer school or other approved make-up class, then they will remain ineligible until the second semester of the next school year – assuming they earn at least a 2.0 overall average during the first semester of that next school year. Note that only one summer school class can be used to help improve the prior year's overall GPA. In addition to summer school, "credit recovery" and "accredited correspondence courses" (such as online courses) can also be used to help the prior semester's GPA – this includes courses that take place after the first semester if the course is completed and the grade recorded before the second semester begins.
Grade point eligibility requirements can be waived by the MHSAA Executive Committee, again in hardship cases. The procedure is basically the same as the one described above. The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team can help you decide whether a hardship request is appropriate in a situation where your student-athlete is academically ineligible to compete.
Because academic eligibility depends entirely on the grades earned by the student-athlete, it's extremely important to keep a close eye on these grades throughout the school year. In some cases, there may be opportunities to discuss poor scores on particular assignments, projects, and tests with the teacher involved. The student-athlete may be able to negotiate a better grade (where the grade is on a project or essay, for example) by discussing it in detail with the teacher. Or, the teacher may allow extra credit work to help bring up a lagging course grade. And sometimes, when a teacher is routinely unfair to a particular student, you may need to bring the issue to the attention of school authorities. It's in this worst-case situation that the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team can provide advice and help to make sure school policies are followed and that discussions with school authorities are managed in an effective and convincing way.
School Disciplinary Defense
Student-athletes must be enrolled in and attending school in order to be eligible to compete in Mississippi. That means that if a school suspends a student-athlete – or suspends them from extracurricular activities – they can be sidelined just as they can for failing to meet any other MHSAA eligibility requirement.
As a result, if your student-athlete is accused of serious misconduct in school, misconduct that could result in their being suspended from activities or from school, you need to pay close attention to the investigation process, any hearing that may result, and possible punishment that the school may impose. The problem here is that while school discipline is supposed to follow certain guidelines (every school has a conduct or honor code, and the vast majority of these explain what the misconduct resolution process is), busy school administrators don't always have the time to properly manage misconduct investigations, hearings, and rulings.
What often happens then is that students are punished for unsubstantiated misconduct allegations, particularly in situations where there is "more to the story" than what the allegation says. This is where working with an experienced student defense attorney-advisor can make all the difference. The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team has years of experience helping high school students resolve misconduct allegations.
The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team understands how to conduct a detailed investigation of misconduct claims, to locate students, faculty, staff, and others who may have helpful additional information about the incident in question. They can also discuss matters with school administrators in an effort to work things out without a formal hearing in a way that will keep the student-athlete competing. If a hearing is necessary, they can help defend the student-athlete against the misconduct allegations, including by closely questioning witnesses and challenging the use of evidence that is unreliable or prejudicial to the student.
Discipline Defense for Behavior During Competition
If a student-athlete is ejected from a competition for fighting or for "flagrant" unsportsmanlike conduct (including cursing at an official or fan, spitting, and making obscene gestures), the student will be ineligible for the next game (in football) or for the remainder of the meet (in track), or for the next two contests (in any other sport).
Some sportsmanship violations may be reported to the MHSAA Executive Director, who has the power to impose an additional penalty on the student-athlete. If that happens, you may be able to appeal that penalty to the MHSAA Executive Committee. The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team can help you understand your options if this happens to your student-athlete.
Eligibility Following a High School Transfer
Students are eligible to compete at the high school located in the school district or school zone where their parents are "bona fide residents." This means that the parents must actually live full-time at the residence within the district, where the family "cooks, eats and sleeps on a regular basis and claims as its sole or primary place of residence."
If the student's family changes their "bona fide" residence to one located in a different school district or zone, the student will have the option to remain at their present school and continue to be eligible to compete through the end of the semester in which the family moved (unless the student is in 12th grade, in which case they will be eligible at the old school for the entire school year). Alternatively, the student may transfer to the high school in the new district or zone and be immediately eligible – except that a student can't begin competing in a sport at one school and transfer and finish competing in that sport at the new school. In other words, they can only be a member of one team at one school per season.
The MHSAA will investigate the family's move to determine whether it is an actual "bona fide" move to a new residence and whether it was changed "for the purpose of creating athletic eligibility" in the new district or zone. (Though this last point will not be a consideration if the move was made more than 60 days before the first day of school.)
Student-athletes whose parents have divorced will be eligible to compete in the school located in the district or zone where the parent who has physical custody of the student for most of the school year lives. Students may transfer from one parent's residence to another parent's residence one time during their high school career (from 7th grade on, actually) without losing eligibility at the new school.
A transferring student who does not meet any of these requirements may be forced to sit out of athletics for one school year.
Hardship waivers of the transfer rules may be available following the same procedure described above.
The complexity of the MHSAA transfer eligibility rules means that the most important thing when considering a family residence move or a student-athlete school transfer is planning. You want to have as complete an understanding as possible of the potential effects of moving to a new home or transferring to a new school before you actually make the change. The Lento Law Firm and their Student Defense Team can help you sort through the MHSAA transfer rules and apply them to your anticipated situation so that you know in advance how your decision, or your student-athletes decision, may affect their eligibility.
The Lento Law Firm Can Help Keep Your Student-Athlete Competing
Athletics are important to you, your family, and your student-athlete. The MHSAA has a lot of rules and regulations designed to ensure that students receive a good education while still having the opportunity to compete fairly with other students in the sports that they love. All of these rules create many opportunities to run into eligibility problems during the course of a high school career. The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team understand this, and they also understand how the MHSAA rules work. They have helped hard-working, dedicated high school student-athletes from all over the country protect their eligibility to compete, and they can help you and your student-athlete too.
If you have any questions about your high school student-athletes eligibility or are facing a situation where that eligibility is threatened, call the Lento Law Firm today at 888.535.3686. You can also set up a confidential consultation with the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team by using our online contact link. We know how important this is to you and your student-athlete, and we are here to listen and to help.
