Schools call foul: Rock Hill’s school transfer rule to stop athletes moving solely for sports
High school athletes in Rock Hill School District Three who want to transfer solely for athletic reasons will now have to sit out a year.
The principals at Rock Hill, Northwestern and South Pointe high schools all agreed student transfers for purely athletics-based reasons are having a detrimental effect on coaches’ abilities to build and maintain athletic programs. The new rule, which went into effect Jan. 1, also allows student-athletes transferring for legitimate reasons to appeal their 365-day wait period to a five-person panel.
“Rock Hill is a small town, everybody knows each other,” said South Pointe’s Al Leonard. “It’s easy to move from one location to the other, and we’ve been hearing rumors from all three high schools since I became a high school principal, really from day one. This is a way of saying, ‘OK, let’s let everybody know the rules, and let’s stick to them and enforce them.’”
Having a similar rule had been talked about for years, but nothing had ever been done, Leonard said.
“Basically everybody agreed it was time,” he said.
District Three followed the South Carolina High School League’s baseline requirements regarding transfers. It requires students and their families provide proof they moved to an address within the new school’s zone. The SCHSL had previously required proof of intent for why students were transferring, but that ended in 2007 after a successful series of legal challenges.
Needing only a change of address has made transferring easier, too easy, according to the three principals.
“This is gonna cut out that kind of (transfer),” said Rock Hill principal Ozzie Ahl, who also is a member of the SCHSL’s executive committee.
Ahl, Leonard and Northwestern Principal James Blake, the three athletic directors and District Three associate superintendent Luanne Kokolis met Dec. 7 and hashed out the guidelines, which also address the recruiting of middle school athletes. They decided any district student -- from eighth graders in their final semester to high school seniors -- who transfers to another district high school must sit out school sports for 365 days from the date of the change of address.
There are hardship rules in place that will allow students to move schools and play sports immediately -- unforeseen catastrophes, parents’ divorce, homelessness and 12 other stipulations available on page 11 of the bylaws in the SCHSL handbook.
Rock Hill’s intradistrict transfer rule is OK with SCHSL. The organization requires districts to comply with the baseline rules, which were voted on and approved by the 200-plus member schools.
“This office is not the one that makes the rules,” said Nessie Harris, who oversees transfers for SCHSL. “This is 215 high schools that are members that make the rules. We only enforce the rules. It’s truly left up to the district. They can be more stringent than what the rules are.”
Transfer students can appeal to the Athletic Appeals Committee, made up of the three principals, a middle school administrator and Kokolis.
Ahl said the new rule will deter some students from attempting a transfer.
“A family building a house in a different zone, that’s one thing. That doesn’t happen super often,” he said. “Will it cause us to have some meetings? Absolutely. Do I think it’s going to create some extra work? No.”
Rock Hill District Three director of communications Mychal Frost said since the new rule went into effect, one transfer appeal has been turned down and several other requests have been withdrawn.
“It’s already working as it’s intended to do,” Frost said.
Amanda Harris contributed to this article.
Bret McCormick: 803-329-4032, @RHHerald_Preps
Intradistrict transfer rule
▪ Any student who has an in-district transfer of address (any type change of address) during the second semester of the eighth grade through 12th grade year of school will result in ineligibility to participate in sports for 365 days from the date of the change of address.
▪ An appeal of eligibility may be made to the Athletic Appeals Committee within five days of ineligibility notification. The Appeals Committee is made up of the three principals from Northwestern, Rock Hill and South Pointe high schools, and the associate superintendent for athletics, Luanne Kokolis.
▪ High school coaches will no longer meet with middle school athletes in the spring of their eighth grade year. All athletic notices will be mailed to middle school students from the high school athletic offices.
▪ High school coaches attending middle school events will attend as spectators. High school coaches will not be permitted on the middle school event sidelines, in locker rooms or in team meeting spaces. High school coaches will not talk with middle school athletes or address middle school teams.
▪ No middle school student or rising ninth-grade student should try out for a high school team unless the student resides in the high school zone at the time of the tryout.
▪ No middle school student or rising ninth-grade student should practice with a team or work out with a team unless he/she resides in the high school zone at the time of the workout or practice.
▪ If a coach, assistant coach or volunteer coach is found to be recruiting, or utilizing others in the community to recruit, he/she will be subject to losing his/her coaching position.
What do other districts, states do?
Rock Hill District Three’s new transfer rule is unique in South Carolina, and falls more in line with rules already on the books in Georgia and North Carolina. Find out what other districts in South Carolina have in place:
York District 4 - intradistrict transfer isn’t an issue in Fort Mill and Nation Ford’s district, according to Nation Ford athletic director Brian Turner and Fort Mill principal Dee Christopher. Christopher could only recall one transfer between the two schools in the last 10 years.
Greenville - Hillcrest athletic director Tommy Bell said that intradistrict transfer is a huge issue in Greenville’s school district, which, with 19 high schools and over 20,000 students in just those grades, is one of the biggest in the country, let alone South Carolina. Greenville’s district, which includes a number of charter and magnet schools, has no transfer rules above the SCHSL’s baseline.
Aiken - Aiken’s eight-school district adheres to the baseline SCHSL rule and nothing more.
Berkeley - Berkeley’s district, northwest of Charleston, has 10 high schools, including big schools like Stratford and Goose Creek, and smaller ones like Cross and Timberland. The district doesn’t have transfer rules above the SCHSL’s.
Lexington District 1 - the six-school district that includes White Knoll, Lexington and River Bluff, doesn’t have any rules beyond the SCHSL’s. White Knoll AD Dean Howell said he proposed a rule similar to Rock Hill’s to the other ADs in the district, but it was shot down.
Richland 1 - Richland 1 encompasses eight schools within Columbia city limits, including A.C. Flora, Lower Richland and Columbia High. The district doesn’t have rules beyond the SCHSL’s.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools - CMS, which encompasses over 30 high schools, has almost the exact same rule that Rock Hill’s three high schools have enacted, a 365-day athletics ineligibility for any student moving schools within the district, with the option of a hardship appeal.
North Carolina High School Athletic Association - North Carolina also uses a 365-day immediate athletics ineligibility for students transferring within what’s termed an “LEA”, or local education agency.
Georgia High School Association - In Georgia, students that transfer are eligible as long as their move is deemed a “bona fide transfer.” The rule requires transfers to move with their entire family unit to a new address in the proper attendance zone and maintain that address for at least a calendar year. The association also has an avenue for hardship appeals.
This story was originally published January 21, 2017 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Schools call foul: Rock Hill’s school transfer rule to stop athletes moving solely for sports."