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Grace Christian student denied spot on McLoughlin football team By CHRIS BRISTOL A lawsuit may be in the works after the Medford School Board refused to let an eighth-grader play football because he goes to a private school. In a meeting Tuesday night, Chairman Joe Frodsham said too many public school students turn out for interscholastic sports to include students such as Ryan Thorson, who wants to play football with neighbor boys at McLoughlin Middle School even though he attends Grace Christian School. Frodsham said total participation was not feasible, given the school district's no-cut policy for middle school sports. He said 166 McLoughlin students want to play football this fall. "We don't want to overwhelm the system," Frodsham said. "It's already overwhelmed." The board turned Ryan down after his mother's attorney, Lee Werdell, argued the district may be violating the constitutional rights of private school students. Werdell pointed out that a number of local school districts -- including Ashland, Central Point, Eagle Point and Grants Pass -- allow home-schoolers and students from private schools to play whenever a sport is not otherwise available to them. "Theirs is a policy of inclusion," he told the board. "Yours is a policy of inclusion of some and exclusion of others." Werdell said the precedent has been set not only in other communities but in Medford as well, noting the district routinely helps students who have special education needs regardless of where they go. "Only at 549C (the Medford district) is a distinction made," he said. "Only students who go to private schools are not allowed to participate" in sports. Because the football season is about to begin, Werdell asked the board to "act promptly." The board obliged. "At this particular time we have decided not to change the policy," Frodsham said, indicating that the board discussed the issue at a study session before the regular meeting. In a quick interview after the meeting, Werdell said Ryan's mother, Laurie Thorson, has made no decision yet whether to sue. If she does, it would not be the first time. Last spring she won more than $300,000 from the state Support Enforcement Division, claiming at trial that she was fired for refusing to falsely accuse a male co-worker of sexually harassment. The damage award was later reduced by two-thirds under an Oregon law that limits the liability of state agencies. Werdell, who represented Thorson at trial, agreed that McLoughlin had a large number of students who want to play football. But he disputed Frodsham's math. "He said there were 166. Actually, there was 167. One of them," Werdell said, referring to Ryan Thorson, "was turned down." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA