Football parents fight ruling

KATHLEEN - A parents group at Kathleen High School is fighting back. It's suing the Florida High School Athletic Association. An attorney filed the suit in Bartow on Tuesday.

The 'Touchdown Club' wants a judge to overrule a recent FHSAA decision. The FHSAA threw out six of Kathleen High's football wins after it found out that the school was inadvertently playing an ineligible player.

"If not for the adverse ruling of the FHSAA, the Kathleen High School team would be district champions if they won their upcoming game on (Friday), based on their previous record of being eight and O,' said Joe Brown, the group's attorney.

The suit also brings into question Bartow High School. It alleges that three Bartow High staffers misused a district wide computer system to check the grades of Kathleen players, then reported what they found the state.

"The illegal review and access of student records did not meet a statutory purpose, and was simply done to hurt a competitor's school, injuring not only that school, but the community as well," Brown said.

Bartow High officials are not making any comment because the situation is under investigation.