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Tuesday, December 12, 2000

Officials to
discuss sports
gender equity

The major issue is that the
basketball season doesn't coincide
with the boys season

---

By Dave Reardon
Star-Bulletin

A major issue in Hawaii's compliance with Title IX, the federal legislation that guarantees boys and girls equal opportunities in school sports, was expected to come to a head this afternoon.

Joan Rubin and Randy Barkowsky, of the federal Office of Civil Rights, were to meet with officials from the state Board of Education and the Department of Education-appointed Gender Equity Advisory Commission.

Hawaii is one of the few states in which girls play basketball during the spring, instead of in the winter, when boys do.

Tom Yamashita, director of the state Education Department's Civil Rights Compliance Office, said he has been told that the state can be in compliance with Title IX without boys and girls playing during the same part of the year.

"We have it from the (federal) Office of Civil Rights that the seasons don't have to match up, per se," Yamashita said. "What really needs to be looked at is if the benefits are proportionate for male and female students."

Yamashita said that is the case for Hawaii.

But Jill Nunokawa, an advocate of girls playing basketball in the same season in which boys do, strongly disagrees.

"The major problem is that the Department of Education is in non-compliance with federal and state laws and this report suggests otherwise," Nunokawa said. "As I've said from day one, it is fatally flawed."

Today's meeting was to include a review of a report on Title IX compliance progress from the state school superintendent's office.

The report, mandated by Gov. Ben Cayetano last year and produced by a 13-member Gender Equity in Athletics Advisory Council, includes a report on compliance and a strategic plan.

According to the report, gender equity in athletics does not require that girls play basketball during the same season as boys. It states: "The decision has been to retain the current schedule."

While the report recommends status quo for sports seasons, it advises adding more sports for girls. Mike Victorino, chairman of the advisory commission, said that is a major part of the plan.

"I'm pleased we have a focal point," Victorino said. "It gives us something to work with as far as specifics, percentages. Am I happy with the report? Not with overall results. We're a long way from where we need to be."

Victorino said lack of facilities is a major reason girls do not play basketball here in the winter.

He hopes that will eventually change, but said current dynamics do not allow it.

"It's one of the hot issues. The realization is that it will be a real challenge," he said. "A lot of young ladies who play multiple sports would be affected, but facilities are probably the overriding factor. It would be a tremendous burden on us.

"Facilities are our big-ticket item down the line. Then attitudes might change," he said.

Several girls' basketball coaches have said that having the girls' season in the spring is more functional, at least for now.

Also, Hawaii high school soccer, softball and boys' volleyball are all also played out-of-sync with their college counterparts.