NY school medical officer fired for refusing to let 12-year-old join wrestling team saying 'girls don’t play boys' sports'
The Lancaster school district in New York fired its chief medical officer on Saturday after he reportedly refused to let a 12-year-old girl compete on the junior varsity wrestling team. During a special session of the school board conducted at 8 am on Saturday, members decided to fire Dr. Michael Terranova of Lancaster-Depew Pediatrics, school board president Patrick Uhteg said.
Trista Blasz, a seventh-grader at Lancaster Middle School, requested to participate on the district's junior varsity wrestling team. However, Terranova rejected her request, writing “girls don’t play boys' sports in Lancaster schools" in a handwritten note next to his signature on a medical form dated October 23.
The board's action was explained by Uhteg at a special session. “The district’s chief medical officer rejected her request based upon his own inappropriate findings regarding the ability of female athletes to compete on teams with male athletes," Uhteg said in the district statement.
According to him, the three-person panel that rejected Blasz's request also consisted of the child’s physician and a district physical education teacher, whose names have not been revealed.
However, Uhteg deemed the actions of Dr. Terranova “did not represent us as we see fit.”
“We like to ensure that all students in Lancaster have the same opportunities with respect to females and female athletes,” said Uhteg. “We should be encouraging, empowering and really celebrating female athletes. Little girls, young ladies, women can do anything that boys can do, so that’s what we stand for.”
Dr. Terranova performed the physical on October 23.
“I’ve asked them for that paper for a month now, and they refused to give it to me,” the student's mother Danielle Blasz said. “All they did was email me the notification. I wanted it after her physical with Dr. Terranova,” Blasz told The Buffalo News. “I’ve been on the phone with (the district) since last month,” said Blasz.
It came to light that Dr. Terranova had also denied Cristta Hartinger, Danielle Blasz's sister, from becoming a part of the wrestling team several years ago. At the time, Cristta appealed the district medical officer's decision, and one year later, she was allowed to compete on the school team.
Branden Becker, who coached Trista for two years in a youth wrestling club, described her as an accomplished wrestler who had competed more than once at state tournaments. Meanwhile, the district has hired Forestream Pediatrics to replace Terranova.
“We took exception to the panel’s ruling. While we are not medical professionals, they are supposed to base the ruling on several factors which fall into their purview,” Uhteg said. “We’re looking at the next steps of the process, but we will be revisiting this right away following the state guidelines.”