Parent: JC officials ignored safety

To the editor:

This letter is to inform everyone of a very saddening event that happened on Saturday. As everyone knows, the area was hit with a terrible snowstorm on Friday. The Jay County wrestling regional was to be held on Saturday. 

The members of the IHSAA and Jay County School Corporation did not feel that having a code red (Level 2 and 3) travel/weather emergency in 2 counties with participating schools was enough to cancel the meet.  Whoever was responsible for this should be ashamed of themselves. They showed a blatant disregard for the safety of the students, coaches, fans, officials, etc on that day. 

Eighteen Randolph County wrestlers earned a right to participate in the regional that day. 

The Richmond regional was postponed, why not Jay County? 

Here is a statement from the bylaws of the IHSAA: "One of the purposes of the IHSAA is to assure that every student athlete has a fair opportunity to compete.  That purpose can only be achieved when there is true equality of opportunity to participate in athletics.  Athletic participation in an IHSAA member school is an integral part of the educational experience for those young people who become student athletes.  These educational experiences should not be reduced in scope and significance by disparities which limit the participation of any athlete."

To me this means that if all teams are not able to attend, then you should reschedule the meet, otherwise you would not be giving every athlete a fair/equal opportunity to compete. 

By the way, the Jay County basketball game at Yorktown that evening was cancelled.

Thank you

Jamie Wyatt

Union City           

(Editor's note: On Monday afternoon, the IHSAA announced a plan to allow those wrestlers who missed Saturday's regional to compete at the semistate. For details on the decision, see page 8).[[In-content Ad]]