Houston County families say children were barred from playing HS football after transfers

Three Houston County families who transferred school zones say the school district unfairly prevented their sons from playing football, impacting their mental health, motivation at school and college recruitment opportunities.

The families, who are all Black, told the Telegraph they were held to a different standard and felt discriminated against as white players were able to transfer and play at their new schools more easily.

The families described a convoluted process that required approval by local school boards and the Georgia High School Association, with few timely methods to resolve disputes over transfers.

‘It’s very disheartening’

Last summer, Amber Overton and Jeremy Cray and their two sons moved from Overton’s mother’s home in the Houston County High School zone to an apartment in the Warner Robins High School zone.

Their sons Khalil Quinn and Jeremiah Cray, both juniors in high school, were approved to transfer schools through central registration but have not been allowed to play football.

The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) sets the guidelines for student athlete eligibility among its member schools.

According to the GHSA Constitution, students who make a “bona fide move” are immediately eligible to participate in athletics at their new school.

To qualify as a bona fide move, a student must move simultaneously with their family unit, or everyone they lived with at their previous residence, to a new residence in a new service area. Parents must provide documents verifying that the family relinquished their former residence and occupy a new residence.

All three Houston County families say they met these requirements.

For families that do not make a “bona fide” move but moved due to a hardship, or reasons beyond their control, the principal and athletic director at their school can submit a hardship application to GHSA on the family’s behalf.

Overton and Cray say they are holding their two sons to different standards since Khalil is the grandson of the owner of their previous residence and Jeremiah is not.

They say since they made a bona fide move, the family is not subject to the hardship process.

In August, their previous school, Houston County High School, filed a hardship application for Jeremiah which the GHSA denied. The family says district officials have not allowed the Warner Robins High School principal to appeal the denial.

Overton and Cray said the school district has not given them any avenues to resolve this issue for either of their sons or address the Houston County Board of Education.

“It’s very disheartening to see our kids stand on the sidelines, knowing that they have a passion for [football,]” Overton said. “They have the grades, they do everything they’re supposed to do before sports. And now with sports, they’re being penalized but they don’t even understand why.”

Their attorney Angelik Edmonds told the Telegraph that the GHSA and Houston County Board of Education have both “passed the blame” when the family has tried to address this issue.

“No one is giving us the opportunity to grieve these issues procedurally because each person is saying another entity is responsible,” she said. “And they’re kind of draining the clock, half the season at this point is already over … It’s been a lack of diligence on the part of both entities and a lack of responsibility as well.”

‘It felt personal’

In summer 2020, Yancey and Jasmine Brown moved their family to a new home in the Northside High School zone and rented their previous home in the Veterans High School district out to tenants. They said Houston County School District central registration initially approved their children to transfer, but reversed their decision days before the start of the school year.

It was followed by months of fighting with the school district which said the Browns violated policy and a decision by the Houston County Board of Education not to allow their children to enroll in the Northside zone. The district later changed their decision and let the Browns transfer to Northside in January 2021.

During the months that their children were enrolled in the Veterans zone despite residing in the Northside zone, the Browns said the district did not provide transportation to accommodate them.

The Browns said Veterans football staff decided not to let their 11th grade son Cameran play football that fall despite being enrolled there due to concerns about the change of school issues and that he would mess with the team’s “culture.”

According to the Browns, other teachers and coaches at Veterans picked on Cameran about the school transfer issues and he became depressed, losing motivation at school.

District officials were skeptical that the Browns had vacated their previous residence. The family said officials threatened to withdraw their tenants’ children from enrollment if they did not sign an affidavit of residency stating that the two families lived together, which the district did not follow through on.

The school district allowed the Browns to officially transfer to the Northside zone in January 2021 after the family appealed the Houston County Board of Education’s negative decision to the State Board of Education. Cameran was allowed to play football at Northside during the fall 2021 season.

‘It hindered my son’s future’

In July 2020, Dione Stephens and her children moved from the Northside High School zone to the Warner Robins High School zone after they “lost everything” in a house fire. She moved into her parents’ home and said her family would have been homeless otherwise.

After meeting with central registration at the Houston County School District, she said they completed the transfer and her 11th grade son Eric Campbell was approved to play football at Warner Robins High School since the reason for their move was out of her control.

She said she later got a call from a Northside official saying they would “make sure” Campbell couldn’t play at Warner Robins that year. Stephens said she broke down when a district official at central registration called her the next morning stating Campbell could no longer play that fall.

“This was so heartbreaking for me to deliver this message to my son after everything he has been through, knowing the game of football was his outlet, his escape code, his therapy,” Stephens said. “It helped him get out frustration and just relax his mind.”

She said before the house fire and school transfer, Campbell was going to be a starting player at Northside that fall. Stephens said Campbell lost the chance to be seen by college recruiters, hurting his mental health and motivation to prepare for college.

Campbell was eventually allowed to play games his senior year, but not during the first three games of the season.

“They don’t know how this affects kids in the Black community,” Stephens said. “Because for a lot of them, this is all they have to look forward to. This is something that they can cope with and express themselves and kind of get out once they leave home. So it really hurts.”

Houston County School District’s response

Houston County School District officials said they couldn’t comment about individual students. Asked about sports eligibility for transfer students and whether school officials have a role in determining this, a representative from the district told the Telegraph that “sports eligibility is determined by GHSA rules and regulations.”

Carror Wright, director of compliance at GHSA, said appeals about eligibility can only be made by a school’s principal and athletic director on behalf of the students.

“The parents cannot appeal anything,” Wright said. “The parents can contact the school’s athletic director and principal, that’s who GHSA does business with … Any school district can adopt more stringent rules than the GHSA has. We don’t overturn anything from the school district, we don’t have that kind of power.”