Royals get KHSAA reprieve

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November 16, 2009

By MIKE JAMES — The Independent The Daily Independent Mon Nov 16, 2009, 11:45 PM EST

LEXINGTON — Rose Hill Christian School went to Lexington on Monday expecting sanctions but left with a reprieve.

The Kentucky High School Athletic Association gave Rose Hill until Nov. 30 to counter allegations of recruiting violations. The KHSAA Board of Controls will meet Dec. 7 and render a decision then.

Officials for the school underwent two and a half hours of intense grilling from the board, centering around an investigation into the allegations.

The board had been expected to hand down a penalty based on the investigation. However, school officials convinced the board that, among other things, they needed more time to organize and submit documents.

“It will give us more time to put them in better order,” said school administrator Sharon Parsons.

Since January 2008 the KHSAA has been probing allegations that one player’s tuition had been paid by the school — a violation of KHSAA bylaws.

During the hearing school officials — including Parsons, principal Jerry Foster and former board member David Thompson — told the board the student, Michael Fuller, had received a scholarship through a fund set up in memory of David Garnes, a Rose Hill student basketball player who died in 2005, his sophomore year.

Fuller, who played three seasons at Rose Hill from 2004 to 2007, and Garnes were best friends and the Garnes family wanted Fuller to get the scholarship, said Don Frailie, an attorney who accompanied the Rose Hill officials. “As an act of compassion, you don’t turn that family down,” Frailie said.

Frailie disputed the investigation’s methodology and several members of the Rose Hill contingent said they had not been asked for information that later was deemed to be important.

The most recent request for documentation was made with a 48-hour deadline at a time when most of the school board was on a mission trip overseas, Parsons said.

Thompson said the investigation’s finding were “embellished” to make it seem worse.

Part of the problem, school officials said, is that the allegations centered on events that happened under previous administrators. Parsons is in just her second year at Rose Hill.

The board brushed off such contentions. “We’ve discovered that ‘everybody else’ is responsible,” one board member said.

The board played a tape recording that, along with multiple other sources, “confirms the allegations,” one member said.

The board believes one voice on the tape is then-coach Tim Fraley confirming payment of tuition money for Fuller.

Rose Hill officials, however, contend there is no conclusive evidence to indicate who is speaking on the tape, or when. Frailie said an expert had told him the tape may have been doctored, but did not produce any evidence to support that contention.

“If we were out to recruit, we’d recruit someone who knows how to play ball,” Foster said.

The school has already taken steps to make sure no violations happen in the future, Parsons said. A compliance officer will monitor athletic programs and keep track of all documentation, she said.

The controversy may have affected enrollment. Last year Rose Hill averaged 340 students and this year the average is 284, Parsons said.

However, she attributes some or most of the loss to the economy.

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2650.

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