After someconsternation, Riverdale Baptist has joined most Maryland private schools in complying with the Maryland State Department of Education’s Standards of Interscholastic Athletic Competition.
The standards, set before the year by the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association, were established in response to a lawsuit brought last year by parents of wrestlers team from Progressive Christian, a Temple Hills-based private institution made up of home-schooled students. Parents brought the lawsuit after the MPSSAA denied Progressive the opportunity to compete in a wrestling tournament against some of its member schools.
Before this school year, the MPSSAA asked private schools to sign the Standards of Competition in order to compete against its public school members. Some private schools resisted, making competition in sports such as track difficult. Many competitions in track are large invitational meets that include Maryland public schools.
“We were at a point where we had to decide if we were going to fold up the program,” said Riverdale track coach Reggie Lawson. “But the school got the coaches together and everybody agreed that they could comply.”
Progressive Christian has not signed the MPSSAA standards. This year the wrestling team competed against many public school teams, but none from Maryland. In order to fill its schedule, Progressive traveled to many meets out of state.
