MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Dozens of Milwaukee Public School athletes are being forced to hang up their cleats after school leaders failed to file the proper paperwork.
It's news TMJ4 first told you about Tuesday that impacts players at both Bay View and Pulaski High Schools. Not only are those players forced to end their season early, but they'll be banned from the playoffs for the next two seasons too.
Since Pulaski won the Blackbourn Division and is elevated to the Richardson Division, and Bay View is relegated to Blackbourn, paperwork needed to be done.
We talked with MPS Board Director Henry Leonard on Wednesday who said because of a lack of communication and organization at the district level, things as simple as filing proper paperwork, are falling through the cracks.
"We need to fix the problem. This should not happen," Leonard said.
Leonard said it's errors like this that are simple to fix and where MPS' administration needs to make some major changes.
Watch: Board director reacts to MPS leaders failing to file required athletic paperwork
Leonard acknowledged that the WIAA rules are strict, and if not followed, the consequences can be steep.
"I really hope the WIAA reconsiders for the sake of our students. I understand their frustration I'm sure, but I don't want to hurt our students and our parents and our sports programs at MPS. We need to keep everything running. Our students need all the advantages and bells and whistles that they can get," Leonard explained.
We asked MPS' recreation director, Lynn Greb, what happened.
"That particular piece of documentation was not submitted, so as a result, we are in a position now with a potential sanction being implied for two seasons to these teams," Greb said.
"WIAA tells us that it was an online form that's easily able to be filled out, so did that just not happen," Reporter Jenna Rae asked Greb.
"From my understanding. And you know, again, we're still investigating how this happened," Greb responded.
Greb said they've already appealed WIAA's decision, but that the season for both teams is done since WIAA likely won't hear the appeal before Thursday's games.
"This is devastating that, you know, we're faced with now the students are the ones that are in a position to really have the biggest disappointment after going through an entire season. It's extremely unfortunate and taking it very seriously," Greb added.
Moving forward, Greb insists the district is working to put measures in place so this doesn't happen again. However, Leonard said this shouldn't have happened in the first place.
"It was a paperwork error or not getting things in on time. It was nothing egregious. I'm confused why it happens. I'm not real tolerant with it. These are our students, and they expect us to file the paperwork the right way, so everything they do counts," Leonard explained.
Board Director Megan O'Halloran sent out a release Wednesday afternoon calling on the WIAA to reconsider its decision.
She said in part:
"Both schools serve a student body that is 80%+ economically disadvantaged. Our students have had to fight harder just to get to the regular season that their peers in surrounding districts. Now, as Bay View High School was preparing for its first post-season game in seven. years, we're told that they'll have to forfeit this season and face a two-year playoff ban. This is making children pay for mistakes made by adults. Completely unacceptable."
O'Halloran is also calling on the MPS administration to address "any and all personnel matters that may have contributed to this error and prepare a corrective action plan to prevent further clerical errors from coasting our children's opportunities."
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