The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association has come down hard on Lynn English High School at a hearing recently held last Friday.
The MIAA asserted that a former assistant at Lynn English recruited East Boston High School student Cory McMillan to transfer to Lynn English.
The entire series of events and the questions that have sprung up around them, were instigated by East Boston High School Principal Mike Rubin.
Rubin alleges that McMillan and other players had been recruited to play for Lynn English and that such efforts were against MIAA policy.
Lynn Superintendent of Schools Catherine Latham has been sucked into the vortex of this controversy.
Latham suspended the Lynn English assistant and said she was embarrassed by this incident.
Insiders say this incident is more about a rivalry between principals – Rubin of EBHS and Lynn English principal Andy Fila – than it is about MIAA violations.
To our way of looking at the alleged incident, Rubin has put his argument before the welfare of the students involved – and Latham has gone along with Rubin and the MIAA.
It is very likely the MIAA will find against LEHS in this matter.
Suffice to say every major high school with a first rate athletic program makes every effort to entice student-athletes who can contribute and who can benefit from the academics and the athletic programs that are offered.
In this instance, LEHS was a much better fit for McMillan than EBHS.
Rubin’s animus toward English High School has caused the flap.
Rubin says he wants English held accountable.
But what about EBHS and all the other Boston high schools where students and athletes come and go like the wind.
Student-athletes transfer all the time.
Student athletes are bussed to and from Lynn from numerous cities and towns.
Student athletes choosing one athletic program over another is an old story.
Most student athletes seek a better venue for themselves, and once they make their intentions known, school officials tend to welcome transfers.
This isn’t illegal. It is simply the way it is across the state for a lifetime.
Mr. Rubin does a nice job in East Boston but he shouldn’t let his animus for Fila and LEHS lead to MIAA actions that are an embarrassment to the MIAA.
If the MIAA comes down hard on LEHS in its ruling to be released Friday, we hope at the same time it will be investigating the “recruiting” practices of every major high school athletic team in the state.
Then, and only then, will justice be served.