Statement by Township High School District 113 Board of Education President Bonnie Shlensky

DEERFIELD, Ill., May 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Last week administrators at Township High School District 113, which serves Highland Park, Deerfield, Highwood, Bannockburn and Riverwoods, decided not to approve a request to send next year's Highland Park High School girls' basketball team to Arizona in December 2010 to participate in a tournament. The School Board of Township High School District 113 supports the decision that our district administrators made.

We are proud of the diversity among our students, where more than 15 percent are Hispanic. The safeguarding of equal rights for all of our students has long been a core value of our District. It is too early to tell whether the law recently instituted by Arizona will result in racial profiling. Certainly, there are many different views of the likely impact of the legislation on law enforcement practices. This decision in no way represents a political position – rather, the decision was based solely on the concern that a new state law in Arizona, yet untested, may have the effect of subjecting some our students to unwarranted scrutiny.

The 2010-2011 girls' basketball team has yet to be selected and won't be selected until November; therefore, we don't know at this time whether any of our students might be subjected to unwarranted scrutiny due to their ethnicity, but we have elected not to find out.

Therefore, it made more sense for our school administrators to look for an alternative tournament venue outside of the jurisdiction of this yet untested law. It is for this reason that we have withdrawn from the Arizona tournament and have entered a similar basketball tournament in Orlando, Florida.

On behalf of the Board, I'd like to clarify some misinformation that has been reported in the media in regards to this matter. The Arizona tournament is not a tournament that the team was invited to as a result of winning the Central Suburban League Conference title, nor is it a "championship tournament" in a progression of elimination competitions. Instead, it is a competitive tournament in a locale that was identified earlier by a parent as an opportunity for the team to stretch their skills and bond as a team. The Board supports these goals, and therefore with the endorsement of parents and students, we have instead entered the Florida tournament.

We regret the unwanted media attention our District has been subjected to, but are using the opportunity to review our current approval processes.

The District has a process in place for approval of curricular and extracurricular travel that requires administrative review and approval at the Executive Council level. The team was entered into the tournament before the process was complete. Going forward, we are committed to regularly reviewing and communicating our internal curricular and extracurricular approval processes to ensure all members of the District 113 community involved in such decisions understand and follow appropriate protocols. This will include involving students, coaches and parents in meaningful conversations, before a final decision is made. All trip requests, to any state in our union and outside of our country, will be evaluated individually, according to their potential educational benefits.

Above all, as the Board of Education, it is our duty and commitment to educate and support all students, and to ensure that educational opportunities are free from the potential for racial or ethnic discrimination. It is also our responsibility to model for students and staff that all members of our community are valued. The decision to not approve the request to participate in the Arizona event meets that commitment, and is a strong reflection of this school district's respect for every member of our community.

SOURCE Township High School District 113