Byline: Paul M. Anderson Daily Herald Correspondent
Stung by allegations that Crystal Lake High School District 155 discriminates against girls' sports, school board members promised to see what it would take to form a girls' golf team at Prairie Ridge High School.
Educators acted this week after learning the seven girls who tried out for a coed golf team did not make the cut at the new high school. Some of those teens played on a girls' team at Crystal Lake Central High School last year and all of them tried out for a boys' golf team at Prairie Ridge.
Prairie Ridge administrators said there was not enough interest to start a coed team at their school.
But that did not appease students and parents.
None of the girls made the cut during tryouts this month. School board member Elroy Fitzgerald said he was particularly hurt by the allegations of discrimination.
'Why wasn't this brought to our attention last spring?' Fitzgerald asked. 'This is the first time I'm hearing about this.'
Fitzgerald said he fought vehemently for girls athletics in District 155 25 years ago when federal officials mandated more sports for girls through legislation.
'Title 9 had no teeth when I joined this board,' Fitzgerald said. 'But we wouldn't allow the schools to open until there were more girls sports. This board has fought tooth and nail for that. It hurts when you say we're prejudiced.'
The girls told school board members that they were forced as a group to start teeing off from the 10th hole while the boys all began with the first hole. By the time the girls were ready to golf at the beginning of the course there was such a backup they could not finish.
To make matters worse, they said they were also forced to let other groups at the Prairie Isle Golf Club, who were not affiliated with the tryouts, to play through.
The girls also complained that they had to hit from longer men's fairways and were told they had little chance of making the team.
'The civil rights of these girls were breached,' said Phil Pagano, whose daughter Jennifer attends the school. 'We are very much concerned about how they were treated.'
Pagano and other parents threatened legal action if the board did not solve the problem.
Assistant superintendent Mike Mills said administrators decided on the coed team because a 1996 student survey showed little interest in girls golf. Other activities, such as badminton and bowling received more interest.
Girls claimed that many of their friends were interested in trying out for golf.
'A lot of girls wanted to try out, but they were intimidated because they had to try out with the boys,' said sophomore Kirstin Summy.
'Girls and boys would like to compete on an equal basis but they can't.
If they could there wouldn't be a PGA and an LPGA,' said freshman Laura Pizarek.
School board members told Superintendent Joe Saban to look into putting together a girls' golf team at Prairie Ridge this year or next.
'I would like the administration to look at this situation and get the girls back on the golf course,' said Board President Richard Naughton. 'It seems to me we ought to have the resources to do it ... Our commitment now is to see what we can do.'
The school district should forge ahead with a girls' team even if it is not sanctioned for regular competition by the Illinois High School Association, Fitzgerald said.
'If there's any blame to lay then lay it at my feet,' Saban said. 'Sometimes we make decisions that should be reviewed, which is what we'll do here.'
