(Chris Baldwin/Houston Culture Map)
The hoops dreams of Robert M. Beren Academy — the Houston Orthodox Jewish day school whose Sabbath forfeit plight has made national headlines — will live on after all. Beren gets to play in the 2A state semifinals thanks to the decision to go to court.
Beren players and parents filed a lawsuit on Thursday, seeking a temporary restraining order, essentially forcing the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) to do what many felt it should have voluntarily done in the first place: Move Beren’s Friday semifinal earlier so it does not fall during the Sabbath (from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday) when the devout school cannot play for religious reasons.
The Houston Chronicle reported there was a restraining order. But it turns out no restaining order has been issued yet, according to several attorneys involved in the case. TAPPS had already predetermined that it would reschedule if a lawsuit was filed. Beren quickly sent out a statement saying that the school hadn’t gone to court as had been implied in the initial Chronicle story.
“We are thankful to the TAPPS for ultimately making the right decision,” Beren said in its statement. “The school administration and board was not involved in any legal action and we regret that it took a lawsuit filed by parents to bring about this decision.”
(Read more at Culture Map Houston)
Related: Beren Controversy Not a First for TAPPS (Houston Chronicle)
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- Editorial: Beren Team Gets a Shot (Houston Chronicle)
We’re glad that the Beren boys will not be forced to give up their shot at a championship in order to keep their religion, but it never should have come this far. - Nicholas Kristof: Born to Not Get Bullied (New York Times)
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