OIA resolves transfer case, reverts to previous rule

The lawyers for the case of Miller v. Kishimoto have settled out of court and have worked together to devise a more practicable Oahu Interscholastic Association transfer rule for the time being.

It turns out that having a home district to call your own was quite important in this particular circumstance.

Earl and Josliene Miller, the parents of Jalen Miller, filed suit in November against the Department of Education and superintendent Christina Kishimoto to dispute an OIA ruling that their son was ineligible because he played the previous season at Mililani and was now planning to play for Kapolei. The transfer rule at the time stipulated that a player had to sit out one year if he or she participated in the same sport at another public high school during the current or previous year.

But the Miller case shined a light on a hole in that rule. Miller’s home district is Kapolei and, due to his father’s employment circumstances, he received a district exception to play for Mililani in 2016-17. Attorney Eric Seitz and the Millers fought the rule, feeling that Jalen should be able to go to his home district school and participate in basketball there via his own free will.

And that has led to a revising of the rule in the out-of-court settlement. Miller ended up playing the full 2017-18 season for Kapolei, due to a court-ordered temporary restraining order against the OIA from enforcing the rule until the case could be heard.

In essence Seitz and Lyle Hosoda, the attorney for the OIA, agreed that the Miller case itself was basically moot, since Miller ended up getting what his family was suing for. But they both realized that there could be similar cases in the future, and having a solid rule in place was important for everybody.

According to Hosoda and Seitz, the rule adopted by the OIA to start the 2015-16 athletic school year has been put back in place. An amendment made in 2017 has been deleted.

The 2015-16 wording (that is back in effect now), in part, states that a player is eligible if he or she is enrolled at his home public school OR did not participate in the given sport at any other Hawaii public school during the previous or current year.

The 2017 amendment (no longer in effect), in part, states that a player is eligible if he or she is enrolled in his home public school OR gets a geographic exception AND did not participate in a given sport at any other Hawaii public school during the previous or current year.

As was the case previously, those deemed ineligible will have to sit out a year from their particular sport. Judging by the wording of the rule back in effect, a player will always be eligible if he is playing for his home public school, even if he played elsewhere the year before.

“We were able to amicably resolve this matter,” Seitz and Hosoda said in a joint statement obtained by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “While it took a significant amount of time and a great deal of effort, working collaboratively, it was determined that (for) the best of all, that the OIA return to its prior transfer rule.”

A statement from the OIA is included in the settlement agreement. It reads: “The OIA is and has always been committed to the student-athlete and fair play. It will continue to review and revise its rules with that intent in mind. Should you have any questions in this regard, you should contact the principal at your school.”