BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Buffalo Public Schools Board of Education has filed a complaint against the New York State Public High School Athletic Association and Section VI.
This comes after the Bennett High School football team was forced to forfeit their first six games of the season after Section VI officials determined that a player on the team didn’t formally transfer from their previous school.
The District Parent Coordinating Counsel President, Edward Speidel, speaks on the situation.
“We have a young man who’s in 8th grade, he was playing at Sweet Home last year, transferred to Bennett this year, and we didn’t do the proper paperwork,” Speidel says. “So someone in the suburbs got mad that we beat them, and to get even with us, they reported us, so we lost all of our games.”
Speidel says this motion from Section VI is a discriminatory act against inner-city kids.
“Parents feel there’s a pattern that they’re attacking our children in the inner city, and our children happen to be children of color,” he says.
Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Tonja Williams hopes to come up with a solution with members of Section VI.
“We’re willing to listen and hear some of their concerns,” Dr. Williams says. “And they have expressed that they are interested in listening and hearing some of our concerns.”
Section VI did respond with a statement saying:
Meantime others are pushing for greater representation amongst Section VI board members.
“We’re taking it if we don’t dissolve Section VI, we’re going to demand that we have representation in the committee,” Speidel says. “We’ve put up with this for decades."
There’s a meeting planned for next week with some of the members of Section VI.
