‘Unfair.’ 8th grader asks Fayette school board to change athletic policy

A Lexington girl who can’t play lacrosse at her school because it doesn’t have a girls team is asking Fayette County Public Schools to change the way it handles athletes attending magnet schools.

Eighth grader Bella Bennifield posed her dilemma recently to the FCPS board: She plays lacrosse, but because she is a dual language magnet student at Bryan Station Middle School and is not districted to Bryan Station High School, she has been denied “playing up” with the Bryan Station High School girls lacrosse team.

“This creates an unfair situation,” Bella said in a speech at the February monthly school board meeting.

Bella drew applause when she asked the board to allow magnet middle school students to “play up” at their magnet high school.

Because she’s a magnet student, a policy in place since at least 2017 means she can’t play up at Bryan Station High School and would have to play up at the high school where her home is districted — Henry Clay High School.

Since about 2016, when the policy was first enforced, magnet parents have disagreed with the policy because they don’t want to transport their kids in the middle of the day to another school, and the magnet middle schoolers typically want to play where they plan to go to high school.

Bella presents a unique case because her family is calling the situation an equity issue since there’s no Bryan Station Middle School girls lacrosse team.

When Kentucky High School Athletic Association Commissioner Julian Tackett addressed the school board on the issue in 2017, he told FCPS the KHSAA wanted the district to pick one or the other feeder plan. FCPS could choose to let magnet kids play up at magnet schools or they could force magnet kids to play at their home districted school. Families should not be given the option to play for either, Tackett said then.

Bella is urging FCPS to allow her to play up on the girls high school lacrosse team, because it’s a “logical decision,” her mother Jenifer Wuorenmaa said.

“Despite weeks of arguments, meetings and conference calls, this option was not afforded to her.”

“As such, because of support of the BSMS staff, she has made the decision to play on the boys team,” Wuorenmaa said. “She has practiced with them two days this week.”

“This process has taught me that despite it being 2026, we have a long way to go for equity for girls and women.”

“I’m proud of her for stepping out, pushing herself and making this decision,” Wuorenmaa said. “Trust both Bella and I will keep advocating for females in sports, our fight is not close to over. May we be and raise strong women.”

Bella’s stepfather, Jonathan Hollinger, said they have been communicating with FCPS regarding what they see as a Title IX issue.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance, the U.S. Department of Education website said.

“We are considering other options such as filing an official Title IX complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights and other legal action,” Hollinger said. “There is some case law for similar situations.”

In response, FCPS spokesperson Miranda Scully provided the Herald-Leader with the KHSAA handbook that says: “School districts with multiple schools may not establish an ‘open choice’ option to serve as a feeder pattern for athletics.

“Applying for admission to a school does not waive this definition as there is a clear line between applying and being enrolled.

“School and school districts may choose to define a more restrictive feeder pattern for its middle schools to high schools which if violated, constitute the student not being ‘connected’ and therefore ineligible.

“In a school district with multiple high schools, absent a specific otherwise adopted feeder pattern, the residence of the student-athlete within the district student assignment plan shall determine the school at which the student may participate if such participation is permitted by local policy.”