OPINION: TIME TO CLEAN HOUSE AT FHSAA OF CORRUPT AND UNETHICAL EXECUTIVES

EDITORS NOTE: It is the longstanding practice of Treasure Coast Sports Journal to report on only positive news relating to student-athletes. We will, however, hold adults accountable for their actions as this Opinion Column seeks to do.

19 May 2017, Fort Pierce, FL -  My phone started ringing last night around 6 PM. Caller after caller wanted to know one simple question - where was I today and why was I not in  Vero Beach at the Florida High School Athletic Association's State Softball Semifinals, in which a local team was playing?

By 9:00 PM my voicemail was full. My text messaging app showed over 70 new messages received since mid-afternoon. My email and Facebook Messenger had blown up.

Student-Athletes, parents and fans were obviously both upset and concerned that I was not there – just as I had been in years past.

Was there some type of emergency? Had I been in a car accident? Was something wrong with my son? Or did I just not feel the need to continue to follow and report on a team that I have been so close to for several years.

The girls at John Carroll High School on Delaware Avenue in Fort Pierce made it to the State Final Four last season. Prior to that many of the same girls made it to the State Tournament the year before as members of the Lincoln Park Academy Greyhound softball team.

Treasure Coast Sports Journal has always provided unparalleled coverage of these remarkable student-athletes.

Strong relationships have been built with players, parents, coaches, schools, school district administrators, teachers, and fans.  We give away thousands of dollars of free photographs to the kids, their families, and to schools while earning nothing for our efforts. We work closely with student-athletes, student yearbook photographers and others who are interested in a career encompassing multimedia journalism.

So, what happened? What was going on? Why was Treasure Coast Sports Journal so noticeably absent and not on hand to document, report and celebrate with a group of kids their coaches, parents, and fans who have come to rely upon and appreciate the positive coverage we provide?

Simply put, The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) advised us in an April 19, 2017, email message from Mr. Kyle Niblett their Public Relations Specialist that they would not issue Treasure Coast Sports Journal media credentials for the spring unless we removed certain photographs from our internet site.

FHSAA demanded that photographs posted on our website and for sale from a District Tennis Finals event on April 10-11, at a public county-owned park at which no admission was charged, violated their media policy because the photographs were for sale.

Their Media Credential Policy states:

"The FHSAA prohibits the sale of photographs from state series events, and will not credential any photographer whose photos will be used for any purpose other than news media coverage". 

The policy also states that "the following organizations and/or individuals will not be granted credentials: Internet sites with content that is subscription-based or that require paid membership to view content".

We immediately responded to Niblett’s concern and pointed out that the local daily newspaper and their website (TCPalm), of which are owned by one of the largest media companies in the world, Gannett / USA Today, also has posted photographs for sale from the same District Tennis Finals event and that unlike Treasure Coast Sports Journal their website required visitors to pay a monthly fee for access in violation of FHSAA policy. Our email was copied to Dr. Roger Dearing - CEO of FHSAA and Ms. Jamie Rohrer - Associate Executive Director for Administrative Services of the association.

We sent copies of screen shots from several nationally owned newspapers of photographs from district, regional and even state championship events that were posted on their website and all for sale. We inquired if these media outlets were going to be credentialed, just as we have asked in years past. FHSAA ignored our question and instead Rohrer sent us an email thanking us for bringing to their attention a “potential” violation of FHSAA policy, ensuring us that the matter would be investigated as deemed appropriate by staff.

Of course, this was just another one of the many lies Dearing, Rohrer, and Niblett had spewed, as front and center at the FHSAA State Softball Finals was TCPalm.com, reporting, taking photographs and posting these photographs for sale on their website which requires a fee to access. And other larger media outlets were doing the same thing!

Our position was simple. The Tennis District Finals just like the State Softball Championship Series was a news-making event in which a media outlet that has been covering Florida high school athletics for almost two decades has not only every right to attend, but a responsibility to the public to report on.

Dearing, with a history of controversy including alleged bid-tampering and official misconduct, leveled against him by Manatee County School District staff attorney Mr. Mitchell Teitelbaum while he (Dearing) was the County School Superintendent, responded to our email with the following:

"Mr. Niblett has applied our standard properly. We totally understand your point of view, but we ask that you respect our standard of professionalism on behalf of our member schools".

Implying that Treasure Coast Sports Journal does not adhere to standards of professionalism started a firestorm. Evidently, our work is so unprofessional that FHSAA would take one of our copyrighted stories and photographs (without our permission) and include it as the lead news item in an email blast to over 800 Athletic Directors throughout Florida on April 12, 2017.

The "professionalism" is good enough for them to steal and use our work without our permission, yet we are not professional enough for FHSAA to issue Media Credentials to the State Softball Championship Series? Is it just me or is something wrong with this scenario?

We inquired with Dearing, Rohrer, and Niblett’s as to who gave them permission to use our copyrighted material? We asked what right does FHSAA have to just take our work and use it at their will with no credit back to Treasure Coast Sports Journal giving an impression that our story was somehow original FHSAA material when in fact it was stolen.

Not surprisingly none of the three had enough professional standards to respond, completely ignoring the fact that they have placed their 800+ member’s schools in a liability situation, as all FHSAA member schools share equally the cost of legal fees, litigation, and settlements according to FHSAA internal policy.

And most of their member schools are public taxpayer schools.

We advised FHSAA that it was our belief that they received at least partial public tax dollar funding and were a quasi-state agency which meant that they could not deny us access because as a media outlet we were protected under the first amendment of the United States Constitution.

Dearing immediately emailed us back saying in part: 

"I want you to know we are not a quasi-state agency.  We do not accept nor do we take any tax dollars in our revenues.  We receive no state or federal funding what so ever. We also reserve the right to offer press credentials to whomever we choose. It is Mr. Niblett¹s opinion that you do not qualify for media credentials under our policies, which he assures me is justifiable."

So, let's break this down. First, what is a quasi-state agency?

According to Refrence.com, quasi-government (state) agencies are created and funded by the government but enjoy operational and political independence.

FHSAA is a 503c (3) private corporation that was given statutory authority in 1997 by the Florida Legislature as the official governing body for interscholastic athletics in Florida, according to the FHSAA web-site.

Florida Statute 1006.20 reads: The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) is designated as the governing nonprofit organization of athletics in Florida public schools.

Dearing is obviously incorrect in part one of his response, but what about his statement that FHSAA does not accept or receive any state or federal funding?

According to a March 18, 2013, story by Matt Baker at the Tampa Bay Times, "the FHSAA is partially funded through public dollars" because they receive an annual membership fee from their member schools.

But FHSAA states that their policy is that schools must pay any fee's, including membership fee', fines, etc. from non-tax dollars, such as gate receipts. However, according to several Athletic Directors Treasure Coast Sports Journal contacted they are unaware of this policy.

And even if FHSAA has such a policy, clearly it would be ambiguous and unenforceable at best.

Here is why.

In St. Lucie Public Schools when a school receives their annual bill from FHSAA the Athletic Director forwards it to the county Athletic Director who then forwards it to the County Accounts Payable Office for processing and payment. The Athletic Director, county Athletic Director and accounts payable clerk receive their salary from tax dollars. Further, the ticket collectors and money handlers at the gates at games are also school district employees who are paid by the school district with tax dollars. FHSAA demands 100% of the revenues from district, regional and state championship events yet many of the persons working these events are public school employees who are paid with tax dollars. And if a substitute teacher is needed to cover for a teacher or coach so that they can work the district, regional or state championship event or coach in one of the games that substitute teacher is paid with - you guessed it - taxpayer dollars.

So now part two of Dearing's response has been proven inaccurate, false and just a flat out lie.

Why is this even important one may ask? Because a government agency or entity is prohibited from censorship and interfering with the media.

But is FHSAA really a government entity or agency if they are a private not for profit corporation? 

Although Dearing boasts that FHSAA is an independent tax-exempt corporation, he states in a  September 27, 2016, Tampa Bay Times story that FHSAA is a "state actor" - a person who is acting on behalf of a government body and thus subject to regulation under the United States Bill of Rights, including the first amendment and freedom of the press, according to multiple online legal sources.

The United States Supreme court has interpreted state actors to cover many persons who have only an indirect relationship with the government - such as the FHSAA. Of interest, the Court has ruled that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is not a state actor because it is a national association rather than one acting on behalf of a state.

Yet the shining example as to the FHSAA's status being considered a state entity is the 2001 opinion of the US Supreme Court in a case titled Brentwood Academy vs. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA). The TSSAA is structured in an almost identical way as to the FHSAA where both associations are recognized by their respective State Boards of Education as the regulatory authority of high school interscholastic athletics. This case created what is known as the "entwinement standard" in which the Court ruled that because the Association could essentially "coerce" the member schools to follow its rules, and that the state would back this up, it was utilizing state police power.

So, given the totality of the situation including legislative authority, public tax dollars being spent on membership fees or at the very least the administration of these fees, the FHSAA's own admission that they are a "state actor" and United States Supreme Court Opinions, FHSAA must afford first amendment protections, including but not limited to freedom of the press, to media outlets, regardless of Dearing’s statement to the contrary or his own personal views.

Dearing, Rohrer, and Niblett are bullies overstretching their reach in some type of perverted power play, something that Florida lawmakers have pointed out in the past. For example, Representative Elizabeth Porter from Lake City said in 2013, “the amount of power they have is just unbounded. There have been a number of occasions of them really overstepping their boundaries”, according to a story in the Winter Park / Maitland Observer. Representative Larry Metz, who represents much of Lake County, Florida suggested that legislation he had proposed previously “would level the playing field between FHSAA and parents and students” according to the same article.

Individual School Districts take a much different approach however. E. Wayne Gent, Superintendent of St. Lucie Public Schools and Jill Willette, the Districts County Athletic Director have continuity gone out of their way for all members of the media and have been very accommodating no matter the size, style or views of the media outlet. In fact both Gent and Willette have stated on several occasions that they refuse to play favorites when it comes to the press and that what the district does for one they do for all.

With Dearing set to retire in just a few weeks one can only hope that new FHSAA Executive Director, George Tomyn, has the wisdom to not only obey federal and state law but to clean house of those who violate it, act as bullies and do things that are not in the best interest of this state’s most precious resource – it’s children.

Because the worst part of this entire firestorm caused solely by the unethical behavior of Dearing, Rohrer, and Niblett is that hard working kids don’t get the publicity they so rightfully have earned.