Hales Franciscan athletes again can don their uniforms after the Illinois High School Association lifted its suspension of the school Wednesday.
The Catholic school was suspended after the IHSA discovered it lacked recognition from the Illinois State Board of Education since June 2003. The certification, which Hales has received, is required for membership in the IHSA.
Yet the school’s troubles aren’t over.
Hales’ administrators have been directed to appear before the IHSA on Jan. 11 to explain why they submitted inaccurate information about the school’s academic status.
“We still want to find out more information about how we ended up in this spot,” said IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman, who believes the situation is unprecedented. “And how over a 2 1/2-year period they weren’t recognized yet they were telling us they were. That issue is unresolved.”
Hales could lose its 2005 Class A basketball title and face other sanctions, Hickman said.
John Young, in his second year as principal at Hales, blamed the mistake on confusion before his arrival.
“In 2003 the [state] board of education started to set up a visitation to Hales,” Young said. “With the change in the administration, [they] had a management group come in, and the ball was dropped by Hales.”
Hales has been asked to submit information to the IHSA by Jan. 2 prior to its Jan. 11 appearance. Once there, the school will also be asked to explain a new bone of contention for the IHSA. After getting word of the suspension from Hickman on Nov. 22, Hales played and defeated Westinghouse 61-50.
“When the call came to me we were in the process of getting ready to go to the game,” Young said. “The call . . . said . . . unless you can show us the certificate . . . you’re going to be suspended from membership. That evening I tried to find if we’ve got a certificate. Once we found out we didn’t have a certificate we knew we were suspended and we couldn’t play after that.”
Hales has about 260 students and is one of a handful of all-black, all-male Catholic high schools in the nation.
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