What to Know
- Sydney Phillips and her family sued St. Theresa's School in Kenilworth after she wasn't allowed a shot to play on the boys basketball team
- She and her sister were expelled, but an appellate judge ruled the girls must be let back
- Now the school is rejecting the girls altogether for the next school year
A family is continuing its fight against a Catholic school that wouldn't let their daughter play on a boys basketball team.
A New Jersey judge on Thursday set arguments for the week of July 24 in the case of 13-year-old Sydney Phillips.
St. Theresa's School in Kenilworth has rejected applications for next school year from Phillips and her younger sister, Kaitlyn Phillips.
The Archdiocese of Newark's lawyer says the family has been a disruptive force in the school and school leaders made a religious decision to reject their applications.
The girls were expelled after their family sued. An appellate judge ordered the girls be allowed to return until a court hearing. A different judge had denied the family's attempt to get Sydney on a boys team after the girls team was canceled.
In a statement from the Archdiocese of Newark Thursday, spokesman James Goodness said of the family, "The plaintiffs have demonstrated clearly and strongly that, in their minds, the rules and laws of St. Theresa School and Parish do not apply to them.
"For them, rules may be fine for other parents and students in the St. Theresa community, but not for them; everyone must treat them and their children differently," Goodness continued, accusing the family of trying to "impose their own rules on the community, and replace collaboration with diktat."
He said "the issue is not, and never has been, sports. It is the serenity of a school community."
The girls' father previously told News 4 when the girls were first expelled, "I was baptized here, I got married here, and this is what the church does? These girls did nothing wrong. The church should be ashamed."
Sydney Phillips said at the time, "I just want to play basketball and now I'm being expelled, it makes no sense at all. I don't want to go to any other school."
In May, Sydney Phillips was honored at the Ms. Foundation's Gloria Awards alongside Hillary Clinton and other honorees. She was called "an emerging advocate for equality in education and sports."
