After lawsuit, school ‘has a right to be tough’ with its rules

The ongoing saga of the whining Philips family continues, with a win for the family on Friday, when a judge forced the school to allow the girls back in.

Sydney Phillips, a basketball player whose family sued because she was not allowed to play with the St. Theresa School’s boys basketball team after the girls team was disbanded, was asked to leave the school after the suit and subsequent appeal.

One could argue that the school was playing a little tough when, as father Scott Philips says, they had police meeting Sydney and her younger sister Kaitlyn at the door of St. Theresa’s. But doesn't the school have a right to be tough with its rules? After all, it was Philips who started playing tough. Now it comes to light that the St. Theresa's handbook clearly states that a student whose family initiates legal action against the school will be asked to leave. Mr. Phillips agreed to the language in this document.

I'm unimpressed that Philips stood his other crying daughter in front of the principal, Deacon Joe Caporaso, with the ominous "This is all on you..." Using his daughter as an emotional human shield is nauseating.

And now, the legal ping pong ball will undoubtedly ensue, with the ball on the schools side of the table.

I have no doubt that Mr. Phillips will eventually bully the school and the court system into allowing his daughter in. After all, at the end of the day, public opinion would pressure the courts and the schools into siding with a cute, little 12-year-old.

But ultimately, the Phillips family loses anyway. Because even though Scott Philips originally thought he was teaching his daughter how to fight for what's right, it's come to the point where he's taught his daughter how to have a proper temper tantrum....with the help of our court system.

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