My name is Inez Lanns, and my oldest son, Andre Lanns, Jr. (AJ) is in his senior year at Oxnard High School.  AJ moved to Arizona to his father’s home (May 2013) for his junior year and returned back to my household after completing his junior year (June 2014).   Because he moved and returned back home the CIF (California Interscholastic Federation and governing sports authority here in California) Southern Section has given him “limited eligibility for 12 months” which means he cannot play varsity sports he previously played in for a year.  One problem with this is AJ is a senior which means he doesn’t even have 12 months left in school, and the other issue is because he is a senior he cannot play any sports lower than varsity.  They say that AJ has had 3 moves – 1. The first move is when he established residency here his freshman year, 2. The second move is when he moved to his dad’s in Arizona and 3. The third move is when he moved back home (to the same exact address and same school).  Technically, AJ only moved twice – he had been living with primarily with me in Oxnard since 2007, which should not be counted as a move.  Simply stated, he moved to his dad’s in 2013 and then back home to me in 2014.

When my son first moved back home, his school’s Athletic Director initially told him that he would have a 30 day sit out period.  He had only brought this to AJ’s attention after we inquired with him about registering him with the NCAA Clearinghouse.   Thinking he would have to sit out for 30 days seemed like it would be okay.  We didn’t know much of anything about the CIF rules on any of this, so we simply listened to what we were told.  Mind you, we have been involved in sports since AJ was 4 years old, I have assisted with many athletic programs his entire life and even served on the board for youth track and field, so I am not the type of parent who would blow off information concerning sports eligibility, etc. if that information would have been shared with me.  Well, a couple of months later, I followed up with the athletic director about the NCAA Clearinghouse, and he soon told my son he wasn’t going to be able to play any sports.  He said he would have to sit out for the year.  When I attempted to reach the CIF for information they informed me that they did not have anything (a transfer application) for my son, so they would not talk to me.  Upon speaking to the Athletic Director, I found out that he had not submitted the application because he did not know which rule AJ’s situation fell under so he didn’t know which application to submit.  He ended up submitting the application (either for Limited Eligibility or Unlimited Eligibility I think) and the CIF made their ruling. I now know that AJ’s transfer application should have been a hardship transfer.   After meeting with the Athletic Director and Vice Principal (I attempted to contact the school Principal twice and did not receive a response), I was told that if I had additional information that they would submit it to the CIF. 

Well, during this time I decided to take a look at the bylaws, had my cousin who is a law professor look at the bylaws and eventually ended up having many visits to a legal attorney on the Navy base regarding the situation.   I also had a family law attorney review AJ’s situation and the bylaws.  We all read the same thing in the bylaw that obviously showed that AJ should have unlimited eligibility under hardships for children of divorced parents.  The bylaw asks for court ordered documentation, which our divorce decree is a court ordered document where the judge granted his father and I joint custody when we divorced.   We were going to submit this to the CIF, but they would not take it into consideration because they wanted court ordered documentation for this year.  However, a custody judgment is still in effect unless otherwise changed so the joint custody still applies.  If you are not making changes to custody there is no need to go to court every year and renew it – a judge would wonder why we would even be going to court to ask him to stamp what he had already decided on.  Also, the bylaw does not state that the court ordered documentation needs to be dated for the current year.  Each attorney I spoke with said the same thing after reading the bylaw.   When I emailed the Basketball Commissioner of the CIF Southern Section he simply replied that their job is to govern the rules adopted by the governing schools.

Another situation and circumstance unique to AJ’s case is his father was in the military when we divorced.  When I filed for the divorce, he soon deployed to Korea and was then stationed in Texas and then in North Carolina.  His dad ended up getting out of the military, but he married someone who is active duty military.  In December 2012 they moved to Arizona on military orders, so his dad was now close enough to be able to take a more active part and share in the joint custody.

Well, I put together the packet –clearly explaining AJ’s situation, attaching the court ordered divorce decree/custody agreement, and a letter clearly showing what happened in his situation – and gave it to the Athletic Director since he previously told me he would submit whatever I gave him to the CIF.  He later called me and told me to pick up the packet because the CIF would not even look at it.  I mailed the packet to the CIF myself on January 10, 2015, and they received it on January 12, 2015 and yet I have not received any response.

Honestly, I don’t know if the Athletic Director simply has not been a good advocate and liaison between the CIF and my student athlete and lines of communication have been mixed up.  I do know that the attorney who was helping me tried to speaking to him and did not get anywhere although she was reading the bylaw right out of the book while on the phone with him, but they did not get anywhere.  The attorney also called our Vice Principal and did not receive a response back.  She called the Hardship Commissioner at the CIF Southern Section a couple of times, and she could not be reached but she also did not return her call.  The only people that have shown care and concern for what is going on with AJ are his basketball coaches and his AVID teacher.

I was told that parents separate and lie about being separated/together to get their kids into certain schools to be looked at for sports.  So I can understand them trying to make a rule to try and fix that, but it has not corrected the problem – actually it has caused more student athletes to suffer who are not moving for athletically motivated reasons.  I can give a list of reasons why it is obvious that AJ didn’t move for athletically motivated reasons.  First of all, he is a good athlete but if he was a superstar moving to be seen he would not have been playing JV football and JV basketball when he moved to Arizona.  Also, AJ was simply a 15 year old young boy who had not been able to see much of his father for 5 years so when his dad was able to be stable and closer he sought out the time he needed with his dad.  I had gotten into a car accident a month before his dad moved closer (November 2012), and we were dealing with hardships in my home – medically & financially due to all of the medical issues.  My own medical issues and everything I had going on at that time were documented.  Not only did AJ need his father at that time, but as a single mom going through what I was going through I needed the support of his father with him.  AJ did well in Arizona, and he loved being with his dad.  But he realized he was only in Arizona because of wanting his dad.  He had family here, but the main reason he came back home was he missed his younger brother & sister dearly – they had never been separated for any time in their lives and that became unbearable for him.   In April, 2014 AJ made it clear to me (after months of torturing himself over it) that he wanted to come back home.  I registered him back into Oxnard High School at that time.  We can show again and again that AJ’s move to Arizona was not athletically motivated, but the CIF is not listening to anything I try to explain to them. 

I was also told that trying to do what’s best for your child can mess up your child’s athletic eligibility.  As a parent we should not have to choose between the well being of our child and them playing sports.  That should never be a question.  If you chose eligibility over well-being that would be a form of neglect and abuse, so the CIF should not ever pressure any families to do such a thing.  My son was at a critical age in his life where the presence of his father was critical to him growing into a healthy man.  The CIF govern sports; they are not family law experts or experts in family or sociology, so they should not be allowed to create laws that step into this arena.  More than 50% of American children are growing up in split/single parent homes, so the rules that they are making are affecting most of the athletes that they are governing.   They are making rules that punish these children for coming from divorced and split homes.

The CIF is a non-profit organization that has been governing athletics since the early 1900’s.  The State has very little, if any, oversight over the CIF.  They are not being overseen by any public entity, so they don’t have anyone to be accountable to.   Who is governing them?  Who is following up to make sure they are treating each and every student and parent fairly?  When a certified letter is mailed to them with legitimate concern, they can simply ignore it.  They have been known to bully people – children.  Many people do not challenge them for various reasons – it can be time-consuming and very expensive.  People should be able to trust that the organization that governs high school athletics be “Champions of Character” as listed on the cover of their Blue Book, yet they do not consistently display good character.  There have been numerous complaints against them for justified reasons, but most people do not feel that they stand a chance on trying to reason with them.  We should be able to trust the organizations that make decisions for our youth to make fair decisions that are in the best interest of them.

Last thing, if there are governing schools that vote in commissioners to oversee and govern the laws that these schools have put into place, why are not all of the schools and athletes that are affected by the rules that they make invited to be a part of the process?  Do these people who are making the bylaws justly represent the athletes across California that they are making laws for?  Many parents and athletes are not even aware of these 200+ bylaws put into place, yet they are affecting us all.

This has been a rough experience for my son.  I have watched him cheer his team on – yell, motivate and encourage them while he sits on the bench.  He has supported them and shown such good character.  He has his ups and downs with it – going to the games and watching knowing he should be playing, except he decided to move to his dad’s for a year.  We have been trying to resolve this issue for the last three months without any support from his school’s administration.  Now we are in the last week of league games for this basketball season, and his senior year is quickly coming to a close. 

 AJ is a bright, caring, kind young man who works very hard at school and in whatever he puts his hands to.  AJ was born an Army brat and we traveled around most of his life because his father was in the U.S. Army.  When AJ was 11 years old, I decided to divorce his father and move back home to California.  Despite the difficulty of growing up in a single parent home without his father able to be consistently present in his life (due to his service in the Armed Forces), AJ was able to maintain his academics – was in gifted education throughout school and even recently received an academic award from the Ventura County MLK Celebration – he has done well in sports, involved in arts in his early years, volunteers in the community and is an upstanding student.  He is a leader and motivator to his peers and those younger than him and is a faithful member of our church.  He has never gotten into any type of trouble and has consistently excelled academically and shown good character throughout his life.   He should not be punished for coming from a divorced home.  He should have unlimited eligibility (maybe a 30 day sit out period at most)  to play high school sports during his last and senior year of high school.   No child should ever have to choose between family and sports.   The CIF should not have any control over that.

I am asking you to please support our cause and sign our petition.