posted December 16, 2009
I read with interest Roy Exum's recent opinion about the TSSAA split several years ago into Division I (those schools that do not offer financial aid) and Division II (those schools that do offer financial assistance). Although Roy and I have disagreed on this issue in the past and the reasons behind the split, I will not re-hash all of that here.
I will remind him, though, that this arrangement of division along the lines of financial aid was a compromise in order to avoid a complete split with "all private schools in one division and all public schools in another". Several private schools still remain in Division I as they simply choose not to award financial aid.
A most disturbing aspect of Roy's letter was his obvious lack of research in regard to the fact that no private school, females, or African Americans are represented on the Board or Council. This simply is not true. Having been elected to the TSSAA Legislative Council in 1996 and serving until my recent retirement, I am certainly in a position to know. We have had females to serve some years until they resigned or did not choose to run again. Mary Duval, representing Tennessee athletic administrators, meets regularly as an ex-officio member of both the Board and Council. Bill Chaney, represents Division II as an ex-officio member and meets regularly with both bodies. Prior to Bill was a female representing Division II. Steve Harris, headmaster at the private school Franklin Road Academy in Nashville, presently sits on the Legislative Council. I suppose the most disturbing accusation of all was, as Roy points out, no black representation on the Board of Control or Council. Once again, Roy is dead wrong. One of the most respected members of the Board of Control is Ike White who is an African-American. Until his recent resignation, Mike Tribue, who is also African-American, served many years on the Board of Control. Terry Looper, also African-American, served on the Board of Control. Clint Jackson, also African-American, is a valuable member of the Legislative Council. I remind you that members of the Board and Council are elected by respective district member schools and not selected by TSSAA staff.
And finally, long-time TSSAA Executive Director Ronnie Carter recently retired on June 30. By a unanimous vote of the Board of Control, the new Executive Director of TSSAA is Bernard Childress - who also happens to be African-American.
Ed Foster
Ooltewah
foster_ed@comcast.net
* * *
In response to Roy Exum’s columns regarding the TSSAA (The Horrible Split, The Horrible Split Part 2), I would like to say that these columns had nothing to do with racism or sexism as he states, but that he used these issues (hot-button issues to say the least) to express his views about the public/private split issue. He not only wanted to express his views, but to give people a “new” reason to target the TSSAA, since the public/private split has been basically settled for most people.
On November 10, 2009, at Tyner High School (a predominantly black school), I was nominated by Carol Goss, the principal of Tyner, for reelection to the Board of Control for a 4th term. I believe I was nominated and elected because of the job I have done in representing ALL schools, public and private, predominantly black, predominantly white, rural, urban, or inner-city, NOT because I am a “good ole white boy” as Mr. Exum called the Board.
I would like to mention some names of people who served on the Board when I was first elected nine years ago: Terry Looper, principal of Cascade High School in Bedford County, African-American; Joe Davis, principal of Memphis Manassas, African-American. One year later, Mike Tribue, principal of McGavick High School, also African-American, was elected. And as Mr. Ed Foster so aptly stated, Bernard Childress was recently appointed the new executive director of the TSSAA by a unanimous vote. He was, before his election, involved in all Board meetings as assistant executive director. He is, of course, African-American.
Today, we have one serving Board member who is African-American, Ike White, who replaced retiring Joe Davis.
I do want to remind Mr. Exum, and all the readers, that these positions are elected by member schools. Any high school administrator is eligible to run for a position on the TSSAA Board of Control or Legislative Council, be they white, black, male, or female. I think blaming the TSSAA itself for the lack of minorities is like blaming the United States Congress that only 17 of 50 Senators are female, 76 of 435 House members are female, only three Senators represent minorities, and only 36 House members are black. Is he recommending that Congress force equality within its halls? If we want to force equality in elected positions, why not start at the top?
I doubt very seriously Mr. Exum is advocating this. Again, I believe he is using charges of racism and sexism as a smoke screen to incite anger toward the TSSAA. I will respond to the public/private issue by saying that as a coach at Whitwell High School, I scheduled and played public and private schools, even playing Baylor when they were one of the better teams in the Chattanooga area with a player named Jimmy Braddock. Also, the Board of Control has a saying that, “when we put our feet under the table” we are representing every high school in the state of Tennessee, not just “our” schools. So, I take off my Sequatchie County hat and put on my 3rd Athletic District/state of Tennessee hat, as difficult as that sometimes is. I was not on the Board when the Legislative Council voted to split financial aid/non-financial aid schools, but if memory serves, the Council polled all high schools, and the result was an overwhelming vote for a complete public/private split. The Council used wise judgment in finding a happy medium by only splitting it according to financial aid.
I would be glad to answer any questions or discuss any TSSAA issue with Mr. Exum at any time. He might be better served if he asked questions and listened to the answers before writing an article or articles filled with incomplete or inaccurate information. The TSSAA has always been, and will always be, an organization of schools, not individuals.
Respectfully,
Tommy Layne
Principal, Sequatchie County High School
TSSAA Board of Control
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