LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A Las Vegas high school student is running into some hurdles in her pursuit of academics and athletics. Now, she’s pushing for changes to prevent other CCSD student-athletes from experiencing similar situations.
High school junior Darlene Herrera transferred out of Southeast Career Technical Academy to take college courses at CSN High School, which doesn’t have a softball team.
She was told she could still play for her zoned school, which is Silverado High School.
However, she later found out she’d have to wait 180 days to join the team, per CCSD rules.
“Since summer I was practicing with the Silverado team so I could try to adjust to the new environment, meet the girls, meet the coach,” said Darlene. “Two weeks before tryouts, I find out I’m not able to play. It was a very emotional and frustrating situation.”
The CCSD rules state that when a student enrolls in a magnet or career-technical academy school, they’re granted eligibility to participate in athletics. But, if they leave the program to enroll in another school, they’re ineligible for 180 school days for any sanctioned sport they were on the roster for.
“It’s unjust,” said Darlene. “And the weird part of it is that it’s not that I’m completely banned from sports. I’m banned from sport that I’ve already registered in. So since I already registered playing softball with SECTA last season, I’m not allowed to play softball, but for example, if I wanted to go into track or soccer, whatever other sport that there was, there would be no issue.”
Darlene’s family has tried to appeal the decision without success, and now they’re pushing for a change to the rule.
“These students should have the opportunity to pick higher education and sports. Why take that away from them?” said Darlene’s mother, Rachelle.
“For that to be ripped away from her was crazy to me, so we’re ready to take the steps necessary, take time off of work, talk to the people we need to talk to, to make our voices heard. Not only her, but any other student that would be in the same type of situation as she was,” said Darlene’s father, Hugo.
The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association says some changes have been proposed to the current transfer regulations that would allow for a one-time transfer, without having to wait out the 180 days to play.
They say this would allow for more flexibility in school choice.
Those changes are currently under review.
“They have legislation going through about this, but who knows when that’s going to be put into place,” said Darlene. “For the situations going on right now, you have to look into the case, because each case is special and deserves the attention. Students playing sports and doing school should be a really important thing to CCSD in the NIAA, and I feel like nothing should be preventing that.”
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