Re “Heartbroken Player Is Puzzled and Hurt”
John Cohn, whose daughter formerly was on the girls soccer team at Culver City High School, said today his week-old public campaign has two objectives:
• To gain her reintstatement on the team whose season recently began.
• To urge the school to develop clearer eligibility rules regarding student participation in extra-curricular activities.
The ongoing matter of senior Maya Cohn’s unexpected exclusion from the soccer team last month has been documented daily by this newspaper since last Monday.
Reportedly, the coach told Mr. Cohn his daughter’s membership in a prestigious YMCA group interfered with her fulltime commitment to his team, although she had played for him under the same conditions the past two years.
At the weekend, Mr. Cohn pledged to carry his assertedly unusual cause to Tuesday night’s 7 o’clock meeting of the School Board, a specially scheduled Board session with a narrow agenda.
Contrary to reports, the Cohn case, which has become a spark for spirited debate across the school community, is not agendized for the budget-centric meeting.
Therefore, there is not expected to be opinionated comment from Board members, three of whom will be making their debuts, Karlo Silbiger, Prof. Patricia Siever and Kathy Paspalis.
Is this case appropriate for the School Board? That is a question likely to be debated, and disputed.
New Board Presidenr Steve Gourley entered his perspective this afternoon:
“You make a commitment to play for a team,” he said. “If you break it by missing a big game, you’re off the team. You have let the team down.”
Mr. Cohn said his daughter Maya stands to miss but one potential playoff match in mid-February, if she wins reinstatement.
Board Vice President Scott Zeidman urged caution.
“This has not yet come to the Board,” he said this afternoon. “I don’t have all the facts. It would be irresponsible to make a decision or form an opinion without all of the facts.
“From what little I know, ideally it appears that this should be left, first, to the coach, then the Athletic Director, then the Principal, then the Superintendent.
“Potentially, there is a possibility that, theoretically, there could be Board(-appropriate) issues. But I would not know until we get there.”
