By Dave O'Brien

Record-Courier staff writer

Shayne Stewart is a Mogadore High School junior and member of the Wildcats wrestling squad. Wrestling in the 160-pound weight class, he also has managed to keep a grade-point average higher than 3.0 while taking advanced courses at the high school. On a recent report card, one of his teachers wrote "He is a pleasure to have in class."

However, two failing grades on two assignments almost kept Shayne out of the state wrestling tournament in Columbus, which ended up with a plea to let him wrestle being heard in Summit County Common Pleas Court.

The policy states that Mogadore schools checks student athletes' grades weekly. If an athlete is failing two or more classes -- by noon on Friday, Superintendent Terry Byers said -- he or she is ruled ineligible to participate in sports the following week.

It was after qualifying for the state tournament in late February that Shayne Stewart was informed he would not be allowed to wrestle because of two failed assignments in chemistry and English.

Akron attorney Thomas Locascio, representing the Stewart family, filed for an emergency temporary restraining order Feb. 26 to prevent Byers and the Mogadore Board of Education from banning Shayne's participation in the tournament. Summit County Common Pleas Magistrate John Shoemaker agreed, granting the motion Feb. 27.

The next day, Shayne weighed in at the state tournament. He eventually lost in a championship consolation round.

"When I heard he (Shayne) was number 11 of 72 in his class, that he's a junior taking accelerated courses, he's got a cumulative GPA of 3.6, it got my attention," said Locascio, who included a copy of one of Shayne's report cards in his filing to the court.

The two failing grades included a 12 out of 20 score on a chemistry quiz -- a quiz 90 percent of the other students in the class also failed, Locascio said -- and an English assignment Shayne arranged to turn in late because it was due on a day when he was set to travel to a school-sanctioned wrestling tournament.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association, of which Mogadore is a member, requires student-athletes receive "passing grades in at least five one-credit courses or the equivalent during (their) last grading period, each of which counts toward graduation."

Mogadore's handbook is more strict, adding a short paragraph detailing the weekly eligibility check.

Byers said he believes the policy has been on the books for at least 15 years, and only applies to student-athletes and not others involved in extracurricular activities such as after-school clubs.

The OHSAA says checking at the end of the nine-week grading period is "the fairest way to do it," Locascio argued.

"The (OHSAA) has uniform rules. And if you do that in Shayne's case, he'd be eligible" to compete, he said.

Locascio said it is obvious from Shoemaker's ruling that Mogadore's policy and student handbook are unclear -- for one, the written policy does not state the cutoff time and date for the check, he said -- and the family does not intend to pursue the matter further in the courts.

"If the school is going to be stricter than the OHSAA, then at least make clear what the stricter policy is," Locascio said. "How is the student, and then the court, to interpret it?"

Byers said he disagrees with Locascio's argument, and said the district has no plans to eliminate or fine-tune the policy.

In a letter signed by Byers, Mogadore Athletic Director Richard Brumbaugh and the Mogadore Board of Education sent to the Record-Courier and other media outlets, the district criticized the court for not being willing to make a tough decision on the case.

"The continual degradation of the authority of the school by the courts must stop. Our rules and procedures that have been in place for over 20 years were simply swept aside ... Feeling sorry for an athlete and allowing him to wrestle in spite of his not doing the job in the classroom does not teach personal responsibility," district officials wrote.

Mogadore Board of Education president John Cain confirmed the policy would stay, but referred other questions to Byers.

"I don't think it's vague," Byers said, and Locascio's argument was "a way to get around the situation, in my opinion."

The situation also was not the only time in recent memory a player has been banned from participating in sports due to the policy, Byers said. A Mogadore football player also recently was ruled ineligible by the school during the playoff season, he said.

"We don't discriminate," Byers said. "If he's ineligible, he's ineligible."