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Immokalee's 2004 football title at risk

Athletic association investigation into adult students reveals deeper problem: all Collier schools risk forfeits for not filing required forms on foreign students

A Florida High School Athletic Association investigation into adults attending Immokalee High School has revealed more potential athletic infractions. The penalties could result in Immokalee being stripped of its 2004 state football title.

But the Indians are not alone.

As first reported on naplesnews.com and Studio 55, the Daily News vodcast, the FHSAA?s findings could cause countless forfeits, make innumerable athletes ineligible, and change the face of athletics throughout the entire state.

In the past two weeks, three adults ? ages 30, 23 and 20 ? were discovered attending Immokalee High and participating on athletics teams. Immokalee High self-reported infractions of over-aged athletes participating to the FHSAA. But the three adults in question were already ineligible athletes, according to Sonny Hester, the associate commissioner of the FHSAA.

Hester said Immokalee failed to fill out an EL4 form for the athletes who are considered international students. All three adults are Haitian natives. Hester said the FHSAA?s definition of an international student is anyone who is not a U.S. citizen.

After further review, Hester said Immokalee High isn?t the only school that hasn?t complied with this rule. He said every school in Collier County is in violation. He said that in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, all but one school in each aren?t following proper procedures. Hester said that there are possibly 20,000 athletes throughout the state that could be deemed ineligible.

?I?m flabbergasted at the depth of this problem,? Hester said. ?We have an entire county (Collier) that hasn?t been compliant. We have forms just focusing on this aspect of students but it caught me by surprise at the number of schools that are obviously not following the rules.?

The rule Hester is referring to is Policy 17.B.1 in the FHSAA Handbook, which states that international students must present an F1 Visa and schools must fill out the EL4 forms before they can participate in athletics. Hester was on the board of directors that adopted this rule in 2000.

Hester said athletes like Immokalee?s Moise Saintil are considered international students. The Haitian native kicked the Indians to the 2004 Class 2A Championship over Madison County with a 43-yard field goal. Saintil celebrated with the Haitian flag doubling as a cape. Now because of a lack of an EL4 form, he may cost Immokalee its title.

Hester said Immokalee High has never filed an EL4 form.

?He?s from Haiti and the last time I checked that?s a foreign country,? Hester said. ?If you are not an American citizen you are considered an international student. So yes, Immokalee would have to forfeit their state championship.?

John Stewart, the FHSAA?s commissioner, defends Hester?s interpretation of the rule. Stewart said this problem is reflective of the immigration debate in this country.

?What we need to do is come to some common ground,? Hester said. ?There are not easy answers to this and we must come to some definition we can all abide by.?

Public schools face a conflict. They have to follow state laws (META) and are not allowed to ask students about their immigration status. Stewart says school boards and athletic fields are different venues.

?While school boards can?t ask for visas, we can,? Stewart said. ?Athletics is considered a privilege.?

Ernie Modugno, the Naples High athletic director, said he didn?t agree with the FHSAA?s definition of an international student. Modugno, who was recently elected to the FHSAA board of directors and will take his seat in July, feels that immigrants from whatever country are not considered international students.

He points to Policy 17.B.13 in the handbook that reads: ?Pursuant to Federal law, an international student attending a public school is eligible to remain in the U.S. for a maximum of one year and must reimburse the public school for the cost of his/her U.S. education.?

Modugno said he has filled out EL4 forms in the past but only for exchange students.

?I don?t agree with it,? Modugno said. ?If we are in violation then I think all the schools in the county will be in violation. I think there will be a lot of schools in the state that aren?t complying then.?

Vito Mennona, the athletic director at Cape Coral-Mariner High School and chairman of the Lee County Athletic Conference, does go through the process.

?They show up here and they?ve got a birth certificate from Colombia, they may have been here since they were six weeks old or they may have moved here yesterday, so we?ve got to chase down transcripts, find out where they finished eighth grade and send it to the district office to evaluate,? Mennona said.

?We have to know when the first time they entered ninth grade because that?s when their eligibility begins. The form is nothing more but a method to guide us through the process.?

Eric Williams, the district?s assistant superintendent of secondary education, said the district will be working with FHSAA to make sure its definition of an international student matches.

Williams said the EL4 form allows for two types of students ? those with a J-1 visa and those with an F-1 visa. Students with a J-1 visa are students in the district through an exchange program, while students having F-1 visas traditionally paid to attend school in the United States for a year.

?Our district does not issue F-1 visas,? Williams said. ?We do not have any students with an F-1 visa in the district.?

Williams said he spoke with Stewart on Tuesday.

?It is a complex issue,? Williams said. ?We go by what they define (as an international student). If you look at the form, it tends to suggest that someone who has a J-1 or F-1 visa is an international student. We want to make sure our definition is the same.?

In Miami-Dade County, Cheryl Golden, the county?s athletic director, admitted she knows that the majority of her 36 high schools are not in compliance. But she said she won?t worry about it until all of the 700-plus schools in the state are complying. Golden said she previously filed EL4 forms for every foreign-born student but stopped when she felt that the FHSAA wasn?t reviewing the paperwork.

?I?m not worried about what Sonny said,? Golden said. ?Did Orlando file any paperwork? Did Collier County file any paperwork? I know most of my kids in school didn?t come (to the U.S.) this week.?

?The FHSAA needs to get off their high horse that everyone needs to be an American citizen, but until you live in Miami in a mixed culture area you don?t understand,? Golden added.

An FHSAA investigator visited Immokalee on Tuesday. Hester said the investigator was scheduled to interview Manny Touron, Immokalee?s principal and assistant soccer coach, and the three adults who attended the school under false pretenses.

Last week, an e-mail revealed that Touron was aware of the 23-year-old in question several months before dismissing him from the school. The 23-year-old did not participate in sports last season, according to Touron. Blandel Jean is the 30-year-old, head football coach John Weber has confirmed. Jean was a part-time placekicker on the 2005 football team and a three-year varsity soccer starter.

The international student dilemma is so potentially rampant that Hester is hesitant to say the most severe penalties will be passed down. Hester even softened his stance after finding that none of the high schools in Collier County submitted the proper paperwork for non-U.S. citizens.

Hester said Lely High School filed three forms this school year but they were in reference to three exchange students and none of its non-U.S. citizens who are students. Hester and Stewart said the problem is so extensive that it will be addressed at the FHSAA board of directors meeting in two weeks. Stewart said the FHSAA will wait until then to proceed in penalizing schools.

?We are not here to crucify people,? Hester said. ?We won?t be able to discipline every school. But there is a policy and we need to know why it isn?t being complied. If our membership decides this is a by-law they want to stand by, then we need to get rid of it. If that?s the case, then we have to figure out a way to get schools to comply.?

Weber, Immokalee?s football coach, said the latest news blind-sided him. After the recent development of adults playing sports at Immokalee, Weber specifically double-checked Saintil?s birth certificate and eligibility. Athletic directors, and not coaches, are responsible for filing EL4 forms or birth certificate checks.

?I have never heard of this rule,? Weber said.

Weber wouldn?t comment on the thought of being stripped of the 2004 state title.

Hester said that private schools head the list of schools that have complied and filed EL4 forms for international students. He mentioned Jacksonville Bolles and Bradenton Academy as schools that have followed the rules.

?There are examples of schools that knew the rules and complied with the rules,? Hester said. ?But the result of this decision could have major ramifications on high school athletics.

?We have over 200,000 student-athletes in the state. I can?t imagine how many of them are now technically ineligible.?

Key portions from Policy 17 of the Florida High School Athletic Association Handbook regarding international students who are not foreign exchange students:

-- The international student must possess an F-1 visa issued by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. An international student visiting the country on a B-2 tourist visa is not eligible to participate in interscholastic athletic competition.

-- The member school shall report to the FHSAA Office on a form provided by the Association each international student declared eligible to represent the school in interscholastic athletic competition by its principal before such participation can occur.

-- The international student must not reside in the U.S. with any other individual(s) from his/her home country with whom he/she has not lived continuously for the previous 365 consecutive days.

-- Pursuant to Federal law, an international student attending a public school is eligible to remain in the U.S. for a maximum of one year and must reimburse the public school for the cost of his/her U.S. education.

Source: FHSAA Handbook

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Staff writers Jenna Buzzacco and Dana Oppedisano contributed to this story.