i reckon some of y'all will know the school from which i draw the description of the issue. the question, i reckon, applies to all schools. first, the scenario:

dad wants his son to play sports at a school in the next district over.
dad does not want to move his family.
dad finds a shack for rent, makes a rental deal, then gets gas, electricity and water to the house.
dad supplies target school with legal, appropriate, utility documentation.
school accepts documentation and word of dad, and dutifully enrolls son in target school in july.
dad and son do not move into shack.
dad has son obtain target county driver's license.
son starts early football practice.
school principal appoints his athletic director and an assistant principal to make the ahsaa required residency inspections.
AD and AP check all residences. they do a stop-and-look at the dad's rented shack. they do not knock on door or check with neighbors. they check off son's name as good to go.
list is turned in. boy makes the team, but is not a starter. he does play some off bench. the coach is unaware that the AD and AP failed their job.
boy's team trounces county and region rival late in season. rival is no. 2 in state in the two schools' classification.
rumors float.
principal learns of ineligibility, and self reports violation.
ahsaa makes temporary ruling that costs team its wins, its playoff spot, and a fine.

there is no question that dad defrauded school, and school's residency checkers did not properly do their job.
under ahsaa rules, the school is nevertheless responsible.

now, here's the question: can the school sue the dad for the amount of the fine, the lost revenue from playoff game(s), and damages for all manner of things?

it seems to me, there should be recourse for a school, especially if a school's residency checkers actually do their job completely, but are fooled by an extra-clever parent who happens to be home when the door knock comes, and who has spent sufficient time their with his child to fool neighbors. what say ye, aldeer members?

Not a lawyer but I think it's a law that all kids must get an education and since there's proof of registration even though dad defrauded I think schools prohibited from recouping loss. Could be totally wrong.

I don't know of any way that the parents would be legally responsible for any fines.

thanks, guys. even though school employees failed to catch him, the dad ultimately is responsible for putting the school and school system in that position. dude ought to have some consequences ...

Highland home ?

I think so.

In my opinion, if the dad buys a house, utilities, and is paying property taxes in that zone, the kid should be able to attend school there.

he did NOT buy a house. he RENTED a shack, and never moved himself, his son, nor anyone else in. he clearly defrauded the school system.

School is at fault for the drive by inspection. Can't pass the buck back to dad because they were too lazy to do their jobs.

absolutely, school officials didn't do their job in this case. punishment is merited, indeed, under the current system. but, there would be no need for the rules if some dads weren't crooked. so, in my view, why is there no recourse for the defrauded party in this case? a company can get defrauded by an embezzler, who is not caught by the firm's incompetent accountant, but by, say, a law enforcement agency. and there is recourse under the law despite the accountant's incompetence. if such dads were prosecuted, civilly or criminally, i reckon there'd be far fewer dads doing what this one did.
this gets down to a crooked dad costing the other boys on the team, and the school, and a community a great deal of embarrassment. i'm waiting to see what awaits the two lazy school employees. i won't be surprised if the cost is nothing for them ...

School is definitely in fault for failure to fully inspect, but how that’s not fraud vs the school beats me. Seems like the school inspection, could be negligible. How are they suppose to know no one really lives there? I can guarantee no school district is riding around knocking on doors and dropping in to say hello. The school turned themselves in accepting guilt but trying to do the right thing and still got dingged. I would say the school could definitely have a lawsuit for the fraud that he signed off stating he lived x and y, in return, cost the school system money and forfeiting wins.

the school, according to this scenario, is guilty of laziness, NOT trying to game the system by recruiting a stud athlete, and hiding the fact. seems to me that a just system would have a ladder of punishments for appropriate circumstances. this is a one-size fits all punishment ...

First world problems.

Businesses are private for profit things(probably not the right word) schools public nonprofits and the ahsaa did what governing bodies do.

Gotta make a "bonafide" move.

No kidding.

I guarantee someone, a teacher, a coach ,an administrator, somebody knew the family was not in district before they played a snap of ball this fall.

jhl, it is clear your somebody learned of it, and went up the food chain, but WHEN is not the point of the thread. the point of the thread is this: if there is no consequence for the cheating family, why is there not? The drama, in this case, started with the dad, NOT with some imaginary shifty football coach trying to recruit a ringer. the kid is no football ringer.

Lol! Well, why make out like the school could or should have some legal action against the guy?

jhl, you're missing the point of the thread, as i explained above. by the way, i edited out my snotty duh comment. you did not merit that, and i apologize.

If the kid is not a hot shot FB player then they did this just to get in the school. Kick em back to where they actually live.