Bishop Kelley Actively Pursuing Lawsuit Against Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association

A federal lawsuit could reshape Oklahoma high school sports. Bishop McGuiness, a private school in Oklahoma City, is challenging the state association that oversees high school sports. A Tulsa private school is actively pursuing a lawsuit as well.

against the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association that contends the organization forces the schools' athletes to compete against much larger schools.

They said the rules, allegedly discriminate against private schools, and now Tulsa's Bishop Kelley is pursuing a similar lawsuit.

Private schools are upset they're having to play schools six times their size. The say it's unfair.

Cascia Hall, with 350 students, faces off Friday against Bartlesville, a school with more than 1,000 students.

It's mismatched line-ups like that that spurred Bishop McGuinness to file a federal lawsuit against the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association's Rule 14 on Monday.

The OSSAA is the regulating authority for high school athletics and other activities like band and academic bowl competitions.

"It makes it more difficult to win state championships,” said Cascia Hall Headmaster, Roger Carter.

Rule 14 says that if a private school sports program qualifies for the state tournament three out of five years, then it bumps up a classification.

Carter said that's how Cascia Hall jumped from 2A to 4A.

"We feel, still feel, that we should be playing schools the same size we are, but at the same time, I know that a lot of those schools feel that we have advantages that they don't have,” he said.

The suit alleges that the OSSAA rule "unfairly targets private high schools," forcing them to compete against schools six times their size.

"We felt like this was an unfair rule that they were putting into place,” said Carter.

Frank Rhoades's son, #61 on the offensive line and defensive line, is a senior at Cascia.

"I think they enjoy playing the Anadarko's and the Wagoner's and the really good teams,” Rhoades said. “They're every bit every as capable as they are and it does give them some satisfaction."

Rhoades said OSSAA needed to make a change, because for years before Rule 14 came into effect in 2011, private schools ruled the gridiron. He said, the new system is flawed.

"It's almost like you do good and you get penalized for it,” said Rhoades.

Bishop Kelley in Tulsa should be actively pursuing a similar lawsuit in the coming weeks, according to school President Father Brian O'Brien.

The private schools have teams that have been moved up from Class 5A to Class 6A and are playing against the largest schools in the state.

Bishop Kelley's Father O'Brien called the process flawed and said his school, with less than 1,000 students, is playing against schools three to four times that size.

"The average student population at Bishop McGuinness is approximately 700, whereas the average student population of the two largest 6A schools is 4,790 and 4,483 respectively," a news release states.

The school asserts in its lawsuit that the OSSAA is discriminating against private high schools and putting their student athletes at a disadvantage and in potentially unsafe playing conditions.

Another issue is that if a boys' basketball team qualifies for state three out of five years, the school's girls' basketball team also has to go up a classification.

OSSAA said it is studying the lawsuit and will discuss it at a board meeting on Wednesday.

Public schools have also had changes. Just this year, OSSAA split 6A into small and large schools affecting mostly the smaller 6A public schools that complained about having to play 6A mega schools like Union and Jenks.