OSSAA elevates local voices, school-led decisions | Opinion
OSSAA remains committed to transparency, but we must apply eligibility rules consistently to protect fairness across all schools.
I appreciate Hannah Whitten’s passion for supporting fairness and transparency for high school students in her recent guest column regarding the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA). That commitment to students is one I share deeply, along with our board members and staff, as we support more than 140,000 students across Oklahoma each year. OSSAA was created more than 110 years ago to facilitate and safeguard fair competition in extracurricular activities, from athletics to debate and music.
Today, we are an independent, member-driven organization composed of more than 480 schools. Those schools — through their superintendents, principals and athletic directors — create, vote on and regularly reaffirm the rules that govern eligibility and competition. Counterpoint: OSSAA should be subject to accountability | Opinion That structure is important context when questions arise about how decisions are made.
Eligibility determinations are not arbitrary or closed processes. They follow a defined, multi-step procedure designed by schools to ensure both consistency and opportunity for review. Students and families receive an initial eligibility determination based on documented facts, may request reconsideration with additional information and may appeal to an Intermediate Panel made up of school administrators.
From there, appeals can go to the OSSAA Board of Directors and ultimately to the courts. In fact, Oklahoma courts have repeatedly affirmed both OSSAA’s authority and its accountability, recognizing that our decisions are subject to judicial review. Whitten framed the Glencoe situation as though OSSAA staff made a subjective choice to deny eligibility.