A Vermont High school girl’s basketball team will no longer be able to participate in future Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA) activities and tournaments after they refused to play against a transgender player.
VPA wrote to the school on Monday after the Mid Vermont Christian School (MVCS) forfeited the game on February 21, stating that the school’s forfeiture and stated justification “did not meet the expectations” of the organization’s policies.
“Thus, Mid Vermont Christian school is ineligible to participate in VPA activities going forward,” the letter said.
According to CNN, MVCS plans to appeal the decision.
“Mid Vermont Christian school is disappointed with the decision of the VPA Executive Council to ban us from participation in all VPA activities. We intend to appeal the decision,” the head of school at MVCS, Vicky Fogg, said in an email. “Canceling our membership is not a solution and does nothing to deal with the very real issue of safety and fairness facing women’s sports in our beloved state. We urge the VPA to reconsider its policies and balance the rights of every athlete in the state.”
“We withdrew from the tournament because we believe playing against an opponent with a biological male jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players,” Fogg previously said in a statement. “Allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports sets a bad precedent for the future of women’s sports in general.”
On Monday, VPA said it “reiterates its ongoing support of transgender student-athletes as not only a part of building an inclusive community for each student to grow and thrive, but also as a clear expectation by Vermont state law(s) in the Agency of Education Best Practices, and in VPA Policy regarding transgender student-athletes.”
