My son Roman Moore attends ESUMS magnet middle school in West Haven and we are residents of Ansonia. We opted to send him there since it is a STEM school with a focus on engineering which is important to my son. Since he lives in Ansonia, he is not allowed to play for New Haven public schools. We were told he would play sports in whatever district he is from. This month my son attended basketball tryouts at Ansonia Middle School. There were 3 tryouts with each tryout resulting in students being cut and advancing to the next tryout. My son made all 3 cuts and was one of the two 6th graders chosen to play for the school. To our surprise we got a phone call from the coach stating that he was told Roman could not participate since he was not an Ansonia Middle school student. I explained the situation to the coach and he understood but said it was out of his hands and this was a directive coming from someone higher up. 

 

According to CIAC Middle Level Sports Guidelines, Roman is eligible to play for his home town being that his current school does not have a basketball team. However, the Principal is blocking him from playing with the team. 

Roman is well known in the community and from Mead Elementary School. His previous Principal Ms. Cosciello and VP Mr. Durand know him very well - as well as all of the staff at the Boys and Girls club in Ansonia. He is a straight A student, he won top African American (highest GPA)  in his grade at Mead. He was scoring @ 9th grade math level in 4th grade. He is excelling in 6th grade and all he wants to do is play basketball with his friends. 

There are no written policy or guidelines in place to prevent Roman from participating. Furthermore, Roman has no other opportunities to play for a Middle School except for his home town. We are looking your support in pledging that "Ansonia Let Roman Play"