Use same letters for varsity, special-needs athletes?

Not that long ago, students with developmental or other disabilities had few, if any, opportunities to compete in athletics or participate in other school activities.

Now, when a story goes viral about a special-needs athlete being told not to wear a high school letter jacket with a varsity letter on it, the public cries foul and demands change via an online petition and a Twitter campaign.

The facts are more complicated, though. So the Wichita school board did the right thing Monday in hearing out the proponents of awarding varsity letters to special-needs athletes, then opting to let an ongoing review process by the Tri-County Sports League play out before making any policy changes.

Jolinda Kelley, the mother of a Wichita East High School student who plays on a special-needs basketball team, had complained to a local TV station that her son was asked at East to remove his letter jacket and given a sweatshirt to wear instead. The jacket includes a letter she had purchased for him just like the ones awarded to varsity athletes at East.

Officials say no one asked Kelley’s son to take off the jacket, which he has worn to school and events without problems over the past year.

Amid the confusion over what happened, it is good that the district is reviewing whether it should have a consistent policy on awarding letters to special-needs students. East High awards letters to special-needs basketball and soccer players, but they look different from the one earned by varsity athletes under Greater Wichita Athletic League rules. At least one other Wichita school uses the same letters for both varsity and special-needs athletes.

Tri-County Sports League, which oversees special-needs teams for many area schools, has been working on formalizing its guidelines on athletic letters. Its chairman told the board Monday it plans to recommend that ninth-graders receive certificates of participation and older special-needs athletes be able to earn, through good attendance and sportsmanship, regular varsity letters carrying a special league designation.

That seems fair – unlike the condemnation of East High and the Wichita district in recent days as insensitive to special-needs students and unsupportive of their sports teams.

For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman

This story was originally published March 31, 2015 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Use same letters for varsity, special-needs athletes?."