CHSAA should consider large tuition increases as a hardship

Re: “A balancing act,” Nov. 30 sports story

The Colorado High School Activities Association’s stated mission is to “create a positive and equitable environment in which all qualified student participants are challenged and inspired to meet their highest potential.” However, as Kyle Newman’s article documented, the CSHAA transfer system is increasingly strained and is failing some of the very students it is meant to support.

Our family experienced another dimension to the transfer eligibility process this past summer when we transferred our two boys from Regis Jesuit to Chaparral High School. We made this difficult decision after ongoing tuition increases of more than 14% in two years, coupled with financial aid reductions, made continued enrollment financially unsustainable for our family.

Despite acknowledgement from coaches, athletic directors, and commissioners that the circumstances were entirely outside of our control and in no way athletically motivated, our hardship waiver was denied. The justification given was based on the CHSAA Bylaws Article 1800.52 – 8, which categorically excludes “inability to pay private school tuition” from hardship consideration, despite Article 1800.51 granting the Commissioner “broad discretion in applying this [hardship] standard to specific cases.”

CHSAA’s transfer system is fundamentally flawed. The issue isn’t an enforcement problem; it’s a structural one. The bylaws contain categorical exclusions that prevent discretion in certain circumstances while allowing loopholes to be exploited in others. The association’s language promises equity, but its bylaws do not deliver. Without change, qualified students will continue to be denied opportunities to meet their highest potential.

Joel Williams, Parker

You don’t have to have a daughter to know to treat women with respect

Re: “Trump tore athletes down on the world’s stage,” March 1 commentary

Megan Schrader is absolutely correct in her assertion that President Trump has set women’s sports back several decades by failing to recognize a single female athlete, let alone a medalist, from the Milan Cortina Olympics.

I do take issue with her reasoning when she says that the U.S. men’s hockey team should have declined the invitation to the State of the Union “because someday these men may have daughters who will love the sport as much as they do.” She goes on to say that if they had done so, they could point with pride to the fact that they amplified the women’s team at a time they needed it. These men should have declined the president’s invitation simply because it was the right thing to do in response to the leader of the United States openly disrespecting the women’s team.

We need to stop exhorting men to be respectful to women because they have mothers and perhaps sisters and daughters; they need to be respectful because that’s what we do in a civilized society.

Carolyn Cantrell, Denver

Journalists shirking their government watchdog duties

So let’s see: during the US/Israeli attack, a school was bombed in Tehran, killing over 100 children. But we are told they are looking into it. Just as they are looking into the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Just as they are looking into the millions of pages of Epstein files, finding lots of victims but only one (dead) perpetrator. Just as they are looking into government waste, fraud, and corruption in the most corrupt and fraudulent administration ever. Just as they are looking into so many IDF-committed atrocities in the Gaza genocide. Just as O.J.’s spirit continues to search for the real killers.