UPDATE: Federal Complaint Zeroes in on Westfield, Beech Grove, Monrovia, Cascade for Girls Basketball Inequity
The federal complaint alleges systematic discrimination in the scheduling of basketball games among the implicated schools.
This is an update to an original story, which is published in its entirety below.
UPDATE: Four high schools—Westfield, Beech Grove, Monrovia, and Cascade—face federal complaints for purported Title IX violations. The filing contends that discriminatory scheduling practices in basketball have resulted in unfair treatment of the girls' teams. The complaints were submitted last week to the U.S. Department of Education's Civil Rights Division field office in Chicago, responsible for overseeing Title IX matters in Indiana.
The complaints detail how disparities in "prime time" scheduling of basketball games violate established legal precedent under Title IX, thereby infringing upon the rights of girls' basketball players at the schools. Speedway was excluded from the federal complaints list due to minor discrepancies. However, it remains under consideration for a future Title IX compliance review regarding this matter.
Original Story: In an ongoing sweep for Title IX compliance within the Indianapolis Metropolitan Area, the IX Initiative conducted facility assessments and audits of schedules at public high schools within the Indiana Crossroads Conference. The audits revealed Title IX violations, raising concerns about potential legal consequences, particularly as private schools evade scrutiny.
Public schools within the conference—Beech Grove, Cascade, Monrovia, Speedway, and Westfield — are facing potential Title IX violations stemming from discriminatory scheduling practices observed between boys' and girls' basketball programs. This issue arises in light of a longstanding legal precedent established by Title IX law, recently reinforced by the Department of Education’s Civil Rights Division. This precedent, upheld for over two decades, gained further affirmation in over a dozen cases from Ohio in the past year.
In 2010, the IHSAA faced a lawsuit regarding scheduling inequities. However, the lawsuit was dismissed upon appeal, ruling that the organization couldn't be held accountable for scheduling disparities that weren't directly organized by them. Nonetheless, as demonstrated by DoE cases in Ohio, individual school districts can be legally liable for such inequities.
The precedent unveiled that schools have an obligation to give both programs an opportunity to compete in premier timeslots for their sport. In the case of basketball, that has been legally determined to be Friday and Saturday evenings, which typically boast the highest attendance numbers for the sport. In other sports, it's widely recognized that evening games tend to yield the highest attendance rates.
Legal Loopholes: How Private Schools Slip Through
Cardinal Ritter, Lutheran, and Scecina Memorial were excluded from this audit due to their classification as private schools. According to federal precedent, these schools are exempt from Title IX oversight because they do not receive federal funding for their schools and are not considered "state actors" like the IHSAA.
To fall under the jurisdiction of Title IX, schools must receive state or federal funding for academic programs, as mandated by the Education Amendments Act of 1972. Private schools, often affiliated with churches, are usually exempt from this legislation's enforcement due to their non-public funding status.
Audit Results
The audit revealed that most public schools within the Indiana Crossroads Conference exhibited discrimination against their girls' basketball programs. Boys' basketball was consistently favored with prime-time game slots, significantly outnumbering those allocated to girls' basketball. In total, the boys received 134% more prime time games than the girls, amounting to 54 games compared to 23 this season.
Among the schools audited, Cascade exhibited the largest disparity in prime-time game slots, with 11 games scheduled for boys and only 2 for girls. Speedway showed the smallest difference, favoring boys with 9 games to girls' 6. Westfield had a distribution of 12 boys' games and 6 girls' games, while Beech Grove had 10 boys' games and 3 girls' games, and Monrovia had 12 boys' games and 6 girls' games.
Regarding Triton Central, the audit yielded inconclusive results due to a lack of listed game times. However, the actual dates revealed that both boys and girls played 8 games on Fridays and Saturdays. Despite this equal distribution of games, there remains a potential disparity if boys were consistently allocated prime time slots without specific game times listed.
Cascade's departure to the Western Indiana Conference for the 2024-25 season, followed by the creation of the Monon Athletic Conference in 2025-26, does not negate the Title IX issue. Federal oversight can enforce equitable scheduling practices that extend beyond this conference, potentially impacting schools in various conferences across the state.
Editorial Note: The original article inadvertently omitted Westfield from the headline and other sections. It is important to note that Westfield is also facing federal investigation, along with the other mentioned schools.