Kithier Family Sues MHSAA and Chippewa Valley Schools.

Written Monday December 18th at 12:15 PM
Updated Saturday December 30th at 12:15 AM

Well here we go, it has happened.

According to the Detroit News, the Kithier family has sued the MHSAA and the Chippewa Valley School District, which includes Macomb Dakota along with MHSAA Executive Director Jack Roberts, MHSAA Associate Director Tom Rashid, Chippewa Valley Superintendent Ron Roberts, Macomb Dakota Athletic Director Michael Fusco, and Macomb Dakota Principal Paul Sibley.

The Kithier family filed the lawsuit in Federal Court in Detroit saying that his 14th Amendment rights were violated. His family said that the environment at Macomb Dakota was toxic and that the transfer was for academic reasons, not athletic reasons. Also the lawsuit claims of harassment by his former coach Paul Tocco.

The lawsuit also seeks damages and also forces the league to make Kithier eligible by January 15th.

They will seek an injunction next week.

The case will be heard by Marianne Battini. She is a Federal Judge in the Eastern District of Michigan.

This case according to the lawsuit that the plaintiffs in the case requested that the trial be held by a jury.

There were two sworn affidavits, one from Clarkston Superintendent Rod Rock, and the other was from Kithier's mother Jade.

In Kithier's affidavit, she said that there were "unfit academic conditions at (Macomb) Dakota, including classrooms in which his teachers do not have control over their classrooms which creates a chaotic and substandard learning environment for Thomas as well as alleging some teachers often don't return tests and papers in a timely matter."

Kithier's mother also alleges in the affidavit that once Macomb Dakota officials knew that he would transfer, they started harassing him. It alleges on six occasions that Tocco caused Kithier to be 15 minutes late for a class because he wanted to talk about Kithier's future plans and another allegation alleges that another teacher removed Kithier from an English class where he was taking an exam just to convince him to stay at Macomb Dakota. Once his mind was made up that he was leaving, Tocco and other Macomb Dakota officials took jabs at him on social media.

Rock's affidavit alleges that there is a friendship between Fusco and Rashid and that the friendship was the reason why Kithier was ineligible. Rock also mentions the conversation between Rashid and Clarkston Athletic Director Jeff Kosin where Rashid and Kosin were not on the same page. Rock also said that "These actions are reprehensible in the face of a young man who deserves equal, fair, and unbiased due process."

The lawsuit said the undue influence that the MHSAA found against Kithier's transfer was from the friendship between Fusco and Rashid which has gone back 30 years.

The family said they looked at other schools like Troy whom has a strong academic success rate, Utica, and Grosse Pointe where Jane works as a teacher.

Clarkston requested and was granted a right to attend a January 10th meeting with the MHSAA Executive Committee to which they added more information but Roberts and Rashid recused themselves from the proceedings.

The family also said that they wanted to speak with Roberts but was denied by Rashid. The league said it was not protocol to interview parents and athletes but respond and interact with the schools in question.

What Could This Cause???
 
The Kithier situation would create an unprecedented circumstance when it comes to players that want to transfer for athletic reasons.

Kithier’s family hired two well known attorneys in Steve Fishman whom went to college (Michigan) with Clarkston coach Dan Fife and Ven Johnson.

Kithier whom is a future Michigan State recruit transferred to Clarkston from Macomb Dakota this summer however his parents moved in with him later to deal with an ailing family member in Macomb. The house in Macomb is now for sale.

The reason why Kithier was deemed ineligible to play High School Basketball is because of a links rule in the transfer rule. The link was his connection in AAU basketball to his future Michigan State teammate Foster Loyer. Macomb Dakota filed a complaint after not signing the Educational Transfer form to the MHSAA saying that the transfer was athletically motivated and the MHSAA sided with Macomb Dakota on the issue thus making Kithier ineligible for the whole season.

The Kithier family said the move was for academic reasons and that Macomb Dakota didn’t have the math course that he needed along with other communication classes to get to his future major which is communication. They felt that Clarkston was the best place for their son. Clarkston does have a communication studio with Independence Township Television inside the school. Macomb Dakota does not have that at all.

Kithier and his family went to the Chippewa Valley School Board meeting last month trying to get their side of the story out and hopefully convince the Board to reverse its decision.

It did not happen.

What will this Court Case Decide???

This court case could decide the fate of future transfers and if they are free to go where ever they want without penalty. Clearly the Kithier case has legal rulings here with the 14th amendment in the Constitution.

Michigan is a School of Choice State for Academics but not Athletics. The MHSAA which has 700 members including the 23 OAA teams in the league have voluntarily joined supported the academic transfer rules in 1997.

If this case goes to the Kithier family then it could lead to a temporary restraining order giving the opportunity for him to play right away for Clarkston but it also opens the door for other athletically motivated transfers to use the court system to get them to play right away.

Who’s at Fault???

According to an article by Mick McCabe whom worked with the Detroit Free Press, he said that everyone involved is at fault.

On the MHSAA front, the league doesn’t enforce it’s transfer rules to the highest of standards. It has become open season when it comes to transfers especially with those that have numerous scholarship offers to play at Division One Schools. It has been everywhere especially in football and basketball. In football, Detroit Cass Tech had 11 transfers and numerous players throughout the years while West Bloomfield had five in the offseason and we know about Waterford Mott and their football program when it came to transfers. In basketball, Benton Harbor has four transfers that are playing, two from Stevensville Lakeshore and two from Berrien Springs and they are playing right now.

On the Kithier family, they had to have known that Clarkston was a basketball power (they are the defending Class A. State Champs.) Kithier's teams at Macomb Dakota lost to Clarkston two of the last three seasons including last season at Grand Blanc in the Regional Semifinal. According to McCabe he said that the transfer was academically motivated is total nonsense and that all athletic transfers were athletically motivated.

Clarkston Basketball is no strangers to the transfer bug. Tabin Throgmorton came from Walled Lake Northern, Tristen Mysen came from Oxford, Taylor Currie came from Worthington Christian in Ohio, Hank Schimel came from Maryland, Dylan Alderson came from Davison, and Loyer has hopped around because he was the son of former Detroit Pistons coach John Loyer but he and his family settled during Foster’s Middle School years.

Macomb Dakota are no shining angels when it comes to transfers, they have benefited from bringing in transfers themselves that have had deep playoff runs. The Cougars Boys Basketball program was built on transfers when three years ago Charles Penn, Tariq Jones, and Jermaine Jackson Jr. left Mount Clemens to go to Macomb Dakota. The main reason for that move was when Jackson’s father Jermaine Sr. resigned after an investigation surrounding their basketball program. The three transfers were very instrumental in getting the Cougars to the Final Four back in 2015-2016. Jack Ballantyne transferred to Macomb Dakota from Warren De LaSalle last season. Jackson Jr. and Ballantyne are now teammates at Detroit Mercy playing together and Jackson Jr.'s father is an assistant with the team.

The MHSAA does not enforce this rule when it comes to transfers who come for athletic reasons. It waits for the school to come to them when it comes to reporting on transfers. Last season, the league deemed two Clawson players whom transferred to Waterford Mott to be ineligible for the year but changed their mind after getting more information and one of the athlete’s moms changed her story.

Personal Thoughts.

This is going to get uglier before it gets any better here. Now that this case is in court and according to WDIV this case will be in Federal Court in Detroit. This case will set unprecedented circumstances when it comes to future transfers especially if an injunction is granted.

The Kithier family do have a case when it comes to the 14th amendment of the Constitution but it’s hard for me to believe that this was an academic transfer considering the evidence that is out there.

When I look at this case, something is not right here. As mentioned before this case will make a big impact on the future of the MHSAA and future transfers using the court system to get what they want.

I think the MHSAA is very upset that Dylan Alderson admitted that he transferred to Clarkston from Davison for athletic reasons according to Spartan Nation's blog. In their minds especially Rashid that the Kithier move was clearly athletically motivated.

I think the MHSAA needs to change their rules on transfers because so many transfers are getting away with using the academic card or the school that the player is leaving from is not reporting the move and letting them go on their own. If the transfer is there just for academic reasons and they want to play athletics to give themselves an opportunity to play then it is fine I don’t have a problem with that. If the student and parents truly move together, even if they are 18 years old then I don’t have a problem with that at all. If a student that already has a college scholarship and is moving to a different school to be with someone they played with in AAU then I have a problem and that includes the Catholic League schools as well.

If a transfer is there for athletic reasons then they must sit out for 180 days, no questions asked even if they have a Division One Scholarship.

I think it’s time for the MHSAA to get tougher on these transfers and if they don’t then this will certainly continue.

Stay tuned to OAA Now and Inside the OAA for the latest on this situation.

The Lawsuit.
https://drive.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://content-static.detroitnews.com/pdf/2017/kithier2.pdf

Detroit News Article-Kithier Sues MHSAA.
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/high-school/2017/12/29/thomas-kithier-sues-mhsaa-claims-harassment-ex-coach/109004178/

WDIV Story
https://www.clickondetroit.com/sports/clarkston-student-to-go-to-federal-court-after-being-ruled-ineligible-for-basketball-season

For the Spartan Nation Article here it is.
https://scout.com/college/michigan-state/Article/Is-the-Thomas-Kithier-Ban-From-Playing-High-School-Basketball-This-season-by-the-MHSAA-Righteous-Indignation-or-the-Good-Old-Boy-Network-in-Action-Against-the-Michigan-State-C-112412163

For the Mick McCabe Article here it is.
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/high-school/2017/12/17/michigan-state-basketball-thomas-kithier/956151001/