If your high school student is competing in interscholastic sports at one of Montana's more than 180 high schools, you know first-hand how much it means to them to be able to be part of a team, challenging themselves while at the same time making lifelong friends. They've worked hard to get in the shape they need to be for their sport, to learn the skills that the sport requires, and to do everything they can to represent their high school on the field, diamond, track, court, or whatever surface their chosen sport uses.
That's why it is vitally important that you do everything you can to help make sure your student-athlete remains eligible to compete for all four years of their high school experience. Just as you make sure they have the proper clothing and equipment for their sport, that they make it to training and to practices, and that they get to their games on time, you can also make sure they stay eligible to compete. While the Montana High School Association (MHSA) publishes a helpful handbook that includes all of the bylaws, rules, and regulations that relate to high school sports in Montana, at well over 100 pages, it can be difficult to find the information you may need to help your student-athlete.
The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team understands that wading through page after page of bylaws looking for an answer to your question can be frustrating. That's why we've put together this eligibility guide for high school student-athletes in Montana. It focuses on the most important MHSA bylaws, the ones most likely to be raised if you have a question about your student-athlete's eligibility. Once you've reviewed this guide, feel free to contact us with any questions you might have about how we can help you and your student-athlete remain eligible. You can call the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team at 888.535.3686 or use our online contact form to set up a confidential consultation.
Age-Limit and Semester-Limit Restrictions and Waiver Requests
Student-athletes in Montana are age-eligible to compete (assuming that they meet all other eligibility requirements) until they turn 19. If they turn 19 on or before August 31, they will be ineligible to compete during that coming school year. If their 19th birthday falls after August 31, they will be age-eligible to compete through that entire coming school year.
Waivers of the age-limit rule are possible under some circumstances. Waiver requests can be submitted by the student-athlete, their parent or guardian, or their school. Waiver requests for the fall sports season need to be submitted by March 15 of the preceding school year, so it's important to keep that deadline in mind if you believe a waiver request may be necessary for your student-athlete. For other sports seasons, waiver requests need to be submitted at least 60 days before the season's activities begin.
Student-athletes must be able to prove that granting the waiver request won't create a safety risk for other players, that it won't “skew the overall competitiveness” in that sport, that other student-athletes won't be excluded if the request is granted, and that the student-athlete otherwise meets all other eligibility requirements.
Waiver requests are decided by the MHSA Executive Director. If the Executive Director denies the request, the student-athlete can present their waiver request to the MHSA Executive Board at a hearing.
Student-athletes have four consecutive years (8 consecutive semesters) of eligibility, beginning with the first semester of 9th grade. While the MHSA bylaws don't include a specific waiver process for consecutive semester bylaws, they do note that the MHSA Executive Board will hear appeals of decisions made by the Executive Director – such as one that would refuse eligibility to a student-athlete asking to compete in what would be a ninth semester. Under the MHSA bylaws, the Executive Board has the power to “grant relief” if they determine that “the purpose or intent of the by-law/rule is not being served.”
For example, if a student-athlete was ill or injured for much of a semester and was unable to attend school (or compete) as a result, that could be a reason to ask the MHSA Executive Board for relief from the semester-limit rule.
Academic Eligibility Waiver Requests and Appeals
Student-athletes must be enrolled in at least 20 hours of class per week – that's four classes of ½ credit each – to be eligible to participate in sports during that semester. At least half of that must be on-site instruction, meaning that the student-athlete is physically at the school for the class. There are exceptions to this for non-public school student-athletes, for student-athletes who are home-schooled, and for student-athletes enrolled in a “transformational learning program in their school that meets a district's proficiency-based learning requirements.”
In addition, student-athletes must have passed 20 hours of classwork during the previous semester (except for those entering 9th grade). “Incompletes” or “Condition” grades do not count as passing.
Grade deficiencies may not be made up. Unlike high school sports associations in many other states, the MHSA does not allow student-athletes to use credits earned in summer school or after-semester online schooling to make up for courses they didn't pass during the previous semester.
This is why it's so important for a parent or guardian of a high school student-athlete in Montana to stay on top of their academic progress throughout the school year. Missed homework, failed tests, or incomplete project assignments can spell disaster for the student-athletes' next semester of eligibility. In many cases, it's possible to work with the student-athlete's teacher to help turn around a failing grade situation, but it's vital to intervene as soon as possible.
In other cases, a grade may be awarded unfairly. Here, too, it's better to know about the situation as soon as it happens so that you can bring any fairness issues to the attention of the school administration. The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team has experience with helping parents and guardians navigate the often-tricky waters of discussing teacher fairness issues with school principals and other administrators.
Grade eligibility may also suffer when a student-athlete is seriously ill or injured for an extended period of time and is out of school as a result. Here, as with the semester-limit eligibility rule, the MHSA Executive Board has the ability to grant relief if the situation warrants it. The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team can help you prepare a compelling request where the facts of your student-athlete's situation support it.
School Disciplinary Defense
Student-athletes spend a lot more time being students than they do being athletes. That means that they are more likely to be disciplined at school than they are on the field. And schools have a lot of different ways of disciplining students found to have engaged in misconduct, including by suspending the student-athlete from participating in extracurricular activities – including sports, of course. This is why you need to get involved if your student-athlete has been accused of serious misconduct that could result in this kind of suspension – or worse.
The problem in many school disciplinary situations is that administrators are busy people and don't always have the time or the training to properly investigate misconduct claims. On top of that, the process that the school may use to decide whether the accused student committed the misconduct isn't always fair. And if that isn't enough, punishments aren't always handed out fairly. Having the help of an experienced student defense attorney can make all the difference in these kinds of serious misconduct situations.
The Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team can help you and your student deal with these sorts of accusations in a number of ways. Our attorneys can conduct their own investigations, often uncovering “the rest of the story” that school administrators missed. We can also make sure that proper disciplinary procedures are followed and that your student-athlete's rights are respected throughout. And, in situations where the facts support it, we can often suggest alternative forms of effective discipline that will keep your student-athlete eligible while still allowing the school to maintain discipline.
Discipline Defense for Behavior During Games
A student-athlete who makes intentional physical contact with an official or makes an official reasonably believe they're about to be injured by the student will be suspended immediately from all future competitions until the MHSA Executive Board decides how long the student will remain ineligible. The Board has the power to suspend a student-athlete for up to two full semesters from the date of the infraction.
Whether contact with an official was inadvertent or intentional can sometimes be open to question. So, too, in a field crowded with athletes, an official may mistakenly penalize one player for the actions of another. In these kinds of situations, appealing a suspension to the MHSA Executive Board may be the best way to get your student-athlete back on the field. The MHSA bylaws have specific appeal procedures for eligibility determinations, and the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team is ready to help you craft, submit, and argue an effective appeal on behalf of your student-athlete in situations where an official's mistake results in your student-athlete's ineligibility.
Transfer Eligibility Issues
The MHSA has some complicated rules relating to the eligibility of student-athletes who transfer from one school to another. The most important thing to understand in this kind of situation is that planning ahead of time can save you and your student-athlete a lot of headaches in the future.
Unless an exception applies, a student-athlete who transfers from one school to another will be ineligible to compete at the new school for a period of time after they transfer. That period of ineligibility will vary depending on when they transfer, but essentially, it will last for one-half of the total number of “pupil instruction” or “P.I.” days for that new school's school year. A shorthand way of thinking about it is that the student will be ineligible for roughly half the school year.
There are some exceptions to this general rule.
The main exception is in the case where the student-athlete transfers schools when their parents or guardians move to a new residence in a new school district. In that situation, the student-athlete should be eligible to compete at their new school, assuming they meet all other eligibility requirements.
Student-athletes whose parents live in different school districts may transfer from one school in the district where one parent lives to another school in the district where the other parent lives, provided they will be living with the parent in the new school district, and provided that they only make this kind of parent-to-parent transfer once during their high school career.
There are hardship exceptions available in transfer situations. Where, because of serious family or other “exceptional circumstances,” the student-athlete must transfer to a new school, the MHSA Executive Director may declare the student eligible. In this kind of case, each high school involved must submit a statement to the Executive Director that the change was necessary, was not “athletically motivated,” and was not the result of any “undue influence.” Appeals of the Executive Director's decision can be made to the MHSA Executive Board.
This is one of the most complicated areas of the MHSA handbook. If your family is considering moving to a new home in a new school district, or if your student-athlete is thinking of changing high schools and wants to remain eligible to compete at their new school, contact the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team for help. We can review your situation with you and help you make sure your move is one that will keep your student-athlete competing. If your student-athlete has already been declared ineligible after a transfer, we can help you review the situation to determine whether a waiver or an appeal may be effective.
The Lento Law Firm Can Help Keep Your Student-Athlete Competing
The experienced student-athlete attorneys that make up the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team have helped student-athletes all over the country defend and regain their eligibility in a wide range of situations. Whether it's an age-limit issue, a grade issue, disciplinary problems, or a transfer situation, we can help you understand what's going on, what MHSA bylaws apply, and what can be done to get your student-athlete back in the game.
So don't delay! High school is over before you know it, and you want to make sure your student-athlete can stay eligible for as many of their four years as possible. Call the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team today at 888.535.3686, or use our online form to set up a confidential consultation with one of our student defense attorneys. We are here to listen and to help!
