The Minnesota State High School League has approved a temporary change to its eligibility bylaws, allowing student-athletes who transferred schools in the wake of COVID-19 restrictions last year, to transfer back to their "school of origin" with no loss of eligibility.
The change, approved Wednesday by the executive committee of the MSHSL Board of Directors, reinstates the athletics eligibility of many who transferred in response to restrictions put in place as a result of the pandemic.
"The Board of Directors and the League have been aware of this unique situation and acknowledge the impact it has had on the educational choices and co-curricular opportunities for our students," board president Tom Jerome said in a news release, adding that board members have spent a great deal of time seeking "ways to make more students eligible when they were faced with making a choice based on the effects of the pandemic."
The change to league Bylaw 111, which governs transfers and residence, is temporary. To regain eligibility, student-athletes must return to their original school by Sept. 10.
The news was welcomed by Craig and Anna Butler of St. Paul and their daughter Danielle, a junior.
When the St. Paul School District adopted a distance-learning model in response to the pandemic last fall, the Butlers, like many parents, chose to send their daughter, who attended Open World Learning Community (OWL), which co-opts with Humboldt, to a different school in hopes maintaining her in-person education. They did so with the intent of returning when students returned to school.
However, that meant two transfers in short period of time, leading them to be in violation of established MSHSL rules.
"Both my husband and I are teachers and we felt it made no sense for our daughter to stay home by herself. We felt it was a better choice academically for her to continue with in-person learning," said Anna Butler, whose daughter Danielle, then a sophomore, transferred to New Life Academy, where her father, Craig, teaches chemistry.