I should also mention Chapple has declined to speak with the Times Union and other media outlets.
He's a person with some experience in how best to handle and punish teens.
I should mention that Martinelli is an assistant superintendent in the Cohoes city school district and a former middle school principal. "It is in that moment, in that second right there, that things went awry." "That's a Title IX violation," Martinelli said, referring to the federal civil rights law that prevents sex-based discrimination in schools. So at the next practice, on Thursday, they again wore their sports bras, while male athletes went shirtless in solidarity.Īnd that's when Chapple allegedly ordered the boys to put on their shirts and sent the girls home. Male athletes were also told to put their shirts on, and everyone, I'm told, complied.īut the female athletes believed the rule to be unfair, or at least silly, and decided to protest. That's been common practice in recent years, according to several of the athletes, but on this particular day, Albany School District Athletic Director Ashley Chapple told the girls the presence of male coaches made their attire inappropriate. "What I can't believe is the school district's refusal to address the situation with concerned parents," said Daniel Martinelli, father to one of the athletes.Īs initially reported by the Times Union's James Allen, this all started on May 11, a Wednesday, when warm weather led male track athletes to go shirtless and females to wear just their sports bras. And it's about the district's apparent reluctance to engage and answer questions, frustrating students and parents alike. It's also about how female track athletes were seemingly punished for daring to protest the school's policy, and how that punishment differed from how male athletes were treated. But the controversy, which has attracted national attention, is only marginally about clothing.
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