MCSD sued for discrimination by mother of player on Northside’s championship team

As the state softball tournaments will be played in Columbus this week, pending in federal court is a lawsuit filed by the mother of a player on Northside High School’s defending Class AAAA state championship team, alleging the Muscogee County School District has violated the U.S. Constitution by “illegally and intentionally denying” her daughter equal treatment and benefits.

Turena Tante, the mother of Northside junior pitcher and infielder Ireland Cavanaugh, sued MCSD in the Columbus Division of the Middle District of Georgia.

The lawsuit accuses the school district of violating Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the the Equal Protection Clause in the constitution’s 14th Amendment by discriminating against Tante’s daughter, based solely on her gender, in the following areas:

▪ Funding of athletics.

▪ Provision of equipment and supplies.

▪ Per diem in the form of pregame meals.

▪ Assignment and/or compensation of coaches.

▪ Provision of locker rooms and facilities for practice and competition.

▪ Provision of training facilities and services.

Tante wants MCSD to be required to provide her daughter with the treatment and benefits equivalent to what the school district provides the boys’ teams, as well as “monetary relief in order to compensate her for her damages” resulting from MCSD’s alleged discrimination. Those damages include expenses for equipment and supplies not incurred by parents of male MCSD athletes, plus damages associated with “reduced opportunities to obtain college athletic scholarships.”

The lawsuit provides several examples of the alleged discrimination:

▪ More funding for baseball teams than softball teams, so the softball program must pay for its equipment and supplies, including balls, bats and uniforms. The baseball program is provided a mobile batting practice cage and infield tarp, which the softball program isn’t provided, the lawsuit says.

▪ Football players are provided pregame meals for regular-season home games, “and on information and belief” no female athletes are provided this benefit, the lawsuit says.

▪ The baseball program is provided more coaches than the softball program. The baseball program has a freshman team; the softball program doesn’t. The softball program is required to pay for salary supplements, dues and clinic fees for coaches, the lawsuit says.

▪ Locker rooms and facilities for practice and games are superior for boys compared to girls, the lawsuit says. For example, the baseball program has a locker room at the field; the softball program doesn’t. The baseball dugouts have solid walls; the softball dugouts have chain-link walls. The baseball dugouts have padded protective screens with “Northside Baseball” signs on them; the softball dugouts have chain-link fronts and no sign. The baseball field has water fountains in the dugouts, a two-tier bench, a two-story press box, locked storage in the dugouts, a solid outfield fence, an installed public-address system, a 10-inning scoreboard, bullpens, superior maintenance, superior seating, a school logo on the field, a backstop with a foundation, an indoor hitting facility and superior lighting; the softball field doesn’t, the lawsuit says.

▪ Male athletes are provided superior access to weight-training facilities than female athletes, the lawsuit says.

The plaintiff is represented by lead counsel Samuel Schiller of the Schiller Law Firm in Cookeville, Tenn., and local counsel David Helmick, a partner in Waldrep, Mullin & Callahan of Columbus.

MCSD response

MCSD is represented by Greg Ellington from the Columbus office of Hall Booth Smith. In its response to the lawsuit, the school district denies the allegations of discrimination.

The plaintiff “fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted,” MCSD’s response says. “Plaintiff has not shown any depravation of a federal right under color of state law and has not alleged and cannot demonstrate that a constitutional harm was suffered as a result of an official policy or practice” of the school district.

Among the specific defenses in MCSD’s response:

▪ The infield tarp for Northside’s baseball field wasn’t purchased by the school district.

▪ Northside baseball has an extra coach because it has a freshman team. “Defendant denies that the existence of an additional baseball team and baseball coach constitutes discrimination,” MCSD’s response says.

▪ MCSD admits the construction of the dugouts are different but denies that the softball benches are inferior. The Northside baseball field’s press box, locked storage, solid outfield fence and 10-inning scoreboard were paid for by the team’s booster club, MCSD’s response says.

▪ It isn’t customary for softball fields to have bullpens, MCSD’s response says.

▪ The indoor hitting facility has been used by boys and girls, MCSD’s response says, “and the softball booster club is currently building an indoor hitting facility at the NSHS softball field. Defendant denies that any of the identified differences between the baseball field and softball field at NSHS constitute discrimination against the NSHS softball players.”

LOCAL TEAMS IN STATE TOURNAMENTS

Thursday, Oct. 25

Class AAAA state tournament: Northside vs. Heritage-Catoosa, 5 p.m., South Commons Softball Complex, Field 8

Class A public school state tournament: Marion County vs. Seminole County, 9 a.m., South Commons Softball Complex, Field 6.

Mark Rice, 706-576-6272, @MarkRiceLE.

This story was originally published October 24, 2018 at 11:06 AM.