Signal Mountain will appeal TSSAA decision

photo Middle linebacker of Signal Mountain High School Tim McClendon tracks the offense of Bradley High School during the 7-on-7 Passing Camp at Signal Mountain High School on Saturday, July 16, 2011.

We saw this east of our office in north Springdale.

Posted by NWADG on Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Signal Mountain High School officials have decided to appeal the TSSAA's decision last Friday that vacated six wins and left a player ineligible.

"We have asked for an immediate hearing," SMHS principal Dr. Tom McCullough said in a release earlier today. "We stand by the information we submitted [to the TSSAA] regarding the student transfer and believe him to be eligible."

The TSSAA, after sending two staff members to the school last Thursday declared that the player was ineligible based on the fact that he did not live in the Signal Mountain High School district.

However, the grounds for Signal's appeal are based on Section 13-B in the TSSAA handbook that states that a student is ineligible unless he resides in the territory of the school to which he is transferring. The TSSAA section states that a territory is the "geographic boundaries and bus routes of the area served by the school as established by the local board of education."

The student in question was granted a hardship by the Hamilton County Department of Education.

"The local board of education has established the territory for this student to include Signal Mountain," McCullough said. "If the TSSAA maintains that board-approved hardships do not establish 'territory,' then there are numerous student athletes in Hamilton County and across Tennessee whose eligibility may be questionable."

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