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Football flap to get day in court Judge to rule whether private school kid may play at Mac The Medford School Board won't let Ryan Thorson play football, and now a Jackson County judge wants to hear why. Two weeks ago, the 13-year-old eighth-grader and his mother appealed the legality of a district policy that barred him from going out for the sport at McLoughlin Middle School because he attends Grace Christian, a parochial school that has no football team. The board was unmoved, denying Ryan on the grounds that too many McLoughlin students want to play -- 166 supposedly turned out -- to allow students from private schools to play, too. On Friday, the Thorsons petitioned the court for an emergency order restraining the district from excluding Ryan. The season begins this week. Lawyers for the Thorsons argued the district's policy violates Oregon and U.S. constitutional guarantees of equal protection by allowing home-schooled students access -- but not students from private schools. Moreover, they point out that a number of area school districts -- including Ashland, Central Point and Eagle Point -- make room for home-schoolers and private school students when a sport is not otherwise available to them. Judge Ross Davis rejected the motion for an immediate restraining order. However, he granted the Thorsons a hearing on the matter next Monday. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA