A mother named Stephanie Bentley took to her Facebook to vent about the upsetting situation her son faced as the manager for his high school basketball team in Ohio.
She explained how her boy, who deals with a disability and has an IEP in place, had been working hard all season to earn his varsity letter.
To grab the varsity letter, he showed up early on practices and games, helped out however he could, and stuck to every rule the coach laid out from the start.
Stephanie also shared how her son tries his best in sports even though his disability makes it tough for him to be athletic.
Despite all that effort, things took a turn when the head coach called him the night before a game to say there was no spot left in the team vans, so he would need to ride with his parents instead. She wrote:
Well last night he text me and said the head basketball coach called him and said he will have to ride with his parents to the basketball game because there is no room in the vans that they are taking.
Stephanie Bentley
Stephanie felt this was unfair, especially since she believed the school should provide transportation for everyone involved with the team, including managers like her son, who contribute just as much in their own way.
The mother also shared that over the years, there have been other problems like bullying that made things harder for him.
On top of that, that particular day, Stephanie had her hands full with work ending at 3:30, picking up her daughter from school activities that wrapped up around 4, and then getting her to a class by 7, which meant she couldn’t easily take him to the game herself.
The whole thing left her wondering if this was some kind of discrimination or just poor planning. But, either way, it seemed wrong to exclude him after he had followed through on everything expected of him.
She asked how to address this, as she feels this is wrong in many ways.
Several commented on the post, which speaks volumes about the strong feelings from other parents and people who know about school rules.
Many agree this situation feels wrong and unfair, especially because her son has a disability and an IEP.
Several people point out that schools have to provide transportation for team members, including managers, under Ohio law and federal rules like Section 504.
One person who works as a Transportation Director explained the real challenges with drivers and vans, but still said her son deserves the same ride as everyone else.
There were also comments warning that this could be discrimination and advising her to talk to the athletic director, an advocate, or even the superintendent right away.
