Shouldn’t a Catholic school, sued by girl who wants to play basketball, turn the other cheek?

The story of the seventh-grade girl whose parents sued St. Theresa's School in Kenilworth because they wouldn't let her play on the boys' basketball team just got a little crazier. She's now been kicked out of school along with her sister.

First the back story. Sydney Phillips has attended the school since pre-school and was the student council treasurer and an altar server. Last year she was on the sixth-grade girls' basketball team and ended up their star player. She's hoping to play basketball in high school and college, and of course if she's good enough this can lead to scholarships which any family finds valuable.

This school year took a turn, however, when the school informed the family that not enough girls were interested in joining and therefore the basketball program for girls was canceled this year. The mom and dad sought to get her on the boys' team, which has struggled to win games and the parents say her inclusion would only help them because she's that good. The school said no. They offered to let her still attend St. Theresa's yet play for a nearby school, but the parents wanted her to only play for her own school.

It all resulted in a lawsuit, the family asking a judge to force the school to accept her on the boys' team. The judge sided with the school saying there was no legal basis to force the school to do this. The family decided to appeal.

Now, the father says he's been informed that St. Theresa's is throwing his daughter out of school along with her younger sister. He says an email from the Superintendent of Schools let them know that Sydney and Kaitlyn, "should not be coming to St. Theresa's School tomorrow morning or any day thereafter."

I feel it's one of those unfortunate things in life. While if I were in charge I would consider allowing her on the boys' team, I also recognize the school may not want to open that door, set that precedent, only to have a future lawsuit from another family who's daughter was smaller, not as good, and could possibly suffer injury playing with the boys, yet whose family insisted she be on the boys' team instead of the girls' team.

As a Catholic school and not a public school, even if one disagrees with their decision I still feel it's their decision to make. If basketball were more important than attending St. Theresa's, the family could have made the decision to switch her to public school, but they clearly want exactly what they want and no compromise was going to be good enough. I have to side with the school on this one.

As far as throwing her out of school however, that doesn't stop a lawsuit and isn't exactly "turning the other cheek" now, is it?

What do you think?