They're all here...finally

The last of the exchange students has arrived safely. Yola arrived from Hong Kong last Monday. She will attend high school in Gold Beach, but her host family wasn't quite ready for her, so she spent the first week with Grammy & Papa.



I figured that once I'd found host families and got the kids settled in, completed orientation, and wrapped up the loose ends, it would be smooth sailing. But of course, that would be way too easy.

Two of my students have host fathers that coach for their high school. Through an unfortunate random conversation between two local athletic directors, we discovered that it is against Oregon State Athletic Association (OSAA) regulations for exchange students to participate in any school sport if they live with any member of the school's coaching staff, whether paid or voluntary. So my student that lives with the soccer coach is not only ineligible for soccer, but for ALL sports this entire school year. This has put us in a bit of a pickle. Both students have to either be re-placed with different host families, or quit soccer and not play any other sports this year either. The coaches were going to quit, only to find it wouldn't help the situation since they were coaches at the time the school year began.

The host families and school is appealing to the OSAA in hopes of allowing the boys to stay with their current host families without having sacrifice sports involvement. I'm not sure how this will pan out.

I'm disgusted at such a regulation. I understand the premise behind it is to keep coaches from recruiting athlete exchange students to help the team, but honestly, they're throwing out the baby with the bathwater. There's already a rule in place prohibiting exchange agencies from placing students based on their athletic abilities, and if a coach wanted to cheat, he could easily enough get the kid to be hosted by someone else in the community. So while it doesn't really solve the problem they're focusing on, it does prevent some excellent families from hosting exchange students. I suppose they could host students that have no interest in sports, but the idea is to match students and families that have something in common.

Once this situation is past, I plan to do what I can to get this regulation changed. For now, we're praying that God would work on our behalf to allow these boys to remain with the families that love them so much. Please join us! We're hoping to have the situation resolved by the end of the week.