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Title IX Impact onAvonworth High SchoolThe Avonworth School District hasbeen a distinct feature of the BenAvon community for over 75 years.Through these years discriminationby sex existed in education andextracurricular activates, especiallysports. In 1972, the signing of TitleIX of the Education Amendmentended this discrimination. IronicallyAvonworth High School femaleswere able to engage in moreopportunities than most high schoolfemales in the United States. When did Ben Avon include girls sports?

The maroon and greylassies defeated in sectiongame. The maroon and grey lassies, Ben Avon girls basketball team, made it all the way to sectionals many years in a row. In 1928 the team was racing to the basket for layups, but yet thirty years later, girls sports were unheard of at Avonworth. A sports club emerged again in 1961, and finally, in 1969 the first girls sports teams were officially recognized at Avonworth High School. 1978

February 13, 1929Maroon andGrey Lassies

Ben Avon High School 1938 Before World War II, girls were involved with extracurricular activities across the country which included Glee Clubs, Girls Chorus, Dances, and School Plays. Many were trying out their athletic abilities as cheerleaders, too. But Ben Avon High School was progressive for they had formed a unique women’s club founded in 1937 known as the Girls’ Sports Club. The 1938 Ben Avon High School Girls’ Sports Club

Ben Avon High School Girls’ Sports Club•The Club of Ben Avon High School was formedto give recognition to girls who played inathletics such as Intramural basketball,volleyball, field hockey, and mushball (similar totoday’s softball).•Their aim, according to the Ben Avon De Rebus1938 Yearbook, was “to promote good fellowshipand to create a greater interest in the girlsathletic activities of Ben Avon High School”.•This club played against other community teams.Details from 1938 included playing a basketballgame against a Bellevue Girls’ Athletic Club andplaying a game with the Avalon Leaders’ Club.•They did choose to add Tap and NaturalDancing into their athletic sports portfolio in 1938.

Dances Debating Team 1938 Extra Curricular ActivitiesA Capella Choir

Betty Hazelton,Vice President for the class of 1938 Betty was not only class vice president but also participated in all of the girls sports offered through the Girls Sports Club. Betty illustrates a recurring trend evident today. Girls that are athletic participate in multiple activities and often multiple sports.

Ben Avon/Avonworth High School 1906-1970 On July 1, 1938 the Ben Avon High School became known as the Avonworth Union school district. This union school combined Ben Avon Heights, Ben Avon, Emsworth, and Kilbuck Township. In 1955 Ohio Township joined the district as well. In 1967 it became Avonworth School District.

Avonworth High School 1952 In the mid1940s, when WWII had ended and the men had returned home, the women who had played significant roles outside the homes while the men were away were now expected to return to the household duties including cooking, cleaning and sewing.At Avonworth High School, girls still had many extracurricularopportunities, though competitive sports was not one of them.In 1952, the girls had the choice of participating in a wide varietyof coed clubs including Student Council, the Yearbook Staff,Drama Club, School Play, Dances, the Avonews, Stage Crew,National Honor Society, Photography Club, Chorus, Band,Forensics, and the Library Club.In addition, there were clubs that existed for only girls and onlyboys. The boys clubs included a Boys Choir, a Fishing andHunting Club, a Visual Aids Club, and a Boys Dance Band.While the girls only activities included Cheerleading, Majorettes,and a Girls Choir.

ATHLETICS 1952 The Avonworth High School Class of 1952 offeredboys the opportunity to play football, basketball, golfand baseball against local area teams. Whereas, therewere no competitive sports offered for girls, though itwas the girls that cheered on the teams, helped boost the moral of the fans and helped at the pep rallies.

The supportive role of theCheerleaders is evidentfrom the photos on thesidelines. And as the AHS1952 De Rebus Yearbookhighlighted, “they werekept busy with the manypep rallies, seasonalgames, decorating for thefootball banquet, andsponsoring the BasketballBounce”.

Avonworth G.A.A.Girls’ Athletics Association 1961In 1961, the reintroduction of a sports club for girlsemerged at Avonworth. The Avonworth G.A.A. had88 members. The activities included volleyball,basketball, hockey, and bowling. Plus a themebased Olympic game was held in the Spring. All ofthese activities promoted sports and physicalexercise for women.

Motivation for girls to succeedin sports was evident in the 1961 Yearbookwhere above the photos of the girlspracticing was this quote by Emerson.

It’s Official… Avonworth High School Adds Girls Athletics! - 1969 Competition, modernization and motivation can best describe the Avonworth girls of 1969.A total of forty three girls participated in Basketball and/or Hockey.In fact, five of the cheerleaders participated in sports, 4 of those inboth sports, and 2 were co-captains of their basketball team!Tryouts were held in the Ohio Township gym for basketball. Even 8thgraders were encouraged to tryout for the Junior Varsity team togive them practice for future years to come. The team played in theclass A division and according to the 1969 yearbook, “drew sizablecrowds”.

The Hockey team was formed and they weremotivated as a regulation field with goal posts andcorrect line markings was built at ACORD Park.Modernization came for the cheerleaders as newuniforms, precision cheers, and acrobatics were added.

Facts:1969 – Avonworth High Schooloffered girls the opportunity to playsports!Though Avonworth High School wasbeginning to incorporate women’ssports for over a decade, this was notthe case throughout the UnitedStates.Discrimination by sex existed ineducation and extracurricularactivities/clubs.Therefore, Congress enacted andasked the President to sign The TitleIX Act.

On June 23, 1972, President Nixon signed into lawTitle IX of the Education Amendments. Per the U.S.Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, TitleIX states, \"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance\" (hhtp://ww2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/tix_dis.html). http://www.wnba.com/lynx/media/title_ix_nixon_292.jpg

Implementing Title IX This applied to elementary, secondary, high schools, colleges, universities, and training programs that received government funding. No longer could education, clubs, and sports discriminate against women. Obviously, many attempts to prohibit the implementation of Title IX in the area of athletics arose. After additional Title IX federal regulations were issued in 1975, a compliance deadline of July 21, 1978 was issued for high schools and colleges to incorporate women's competitive sports. Avonworth 1977 Yearbook

Even before the 1978 Title IX compliance deadline, theAvonworth girls field hockey team had won two WPIALtitles in 1976 and 1977.WPIAL Recognizes Girls in 1971… Before Title IX is signed!Ironically, Avonworth was ahead of the nation inaccepting women and allowing them to playcompetitively. And in fact, the Western PennsylvaniaInterscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) chose torecognize girls in interscholastic athletic activities in1971, before Title IX was even signed into law.

Avonworth High School 1977 WPIAL Championship Girls Field Hockey Team

•Avonworth High School Girls BasketballTeam won their Fifth Section Title in 1977.•Their first Section Title was won in 1971!•That means their first section win wasbefore Title IX was signed into law!•Their first Section Title win was sevenyears before Avonworth had to comply withthe act!

According to an article published in 2012 by the WNBA, prior toTitle IX, there were essentially no scholarships available forfemale athletes. Only 1 in 27 girls played high school sports, andfemale college athletes received two percent of the overallathletic budgets.http://www.wnba.com/lynx/news/feature_title_ix_2012_06_04.html How does Avonworth measure up in terms of girls participating in high school sports? % of High School Girls % of High School Girlsplaying sports in the United playing sports in the United States, in 1972 after Title IX States, prior to 1972 was signed 3.7% 7.0%% of High School Girls % of High School Girls playing sports at playing sports at Avonworth in 1977 Avonworth in 2013 22.0% 45.0%

National Statistics and the Effect of Title IXThe Outcomes of Title IX for Women:•1079% increase in Girls play high school sports•637% increase in Women play college sports•237% increase in Women getting college degrees•546% increase in Women going to medical school•768% increase in Women going to law school

Today, girls and boys alike join sports orother extracurricular clubs without asecond thought. There are youth, high school andcollegiate programs for both genders, in athletics and non-athletic departments. They have equal number of boys andgirls sports programs thanks to the legislation signed byPresident Richard Nixon in 1972. What started as a fight forequality has turned into roughly 3 million girls participatingin high school sports, prominent collegiate programsnationwide and professional opportunities like the WNBA,which began play in 1997. http://www.wnba.com/lynx/news/feature_title_ix_2012_06_04.html •FUN FACT… an Avonworth Story… Title IX was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act on September 28, 2002. This was signed into law by President George W. Bush. She was the State Representative from Hawaii. She was one of the two women, along with Edith Green, the State Representative from Oregon, that helped break down the barriers for women and get Title IX added and passed in Congress. Ironically, Mrs. Cheryl (Keith) O’Malley, Avonworth Class of 1970 was pen pals with Mrs. Mink’s daughter, Gwendolyn, while attending Avonworth in 6th grade. She even received Macadamia nuts from Hawaii at the time!

Bottom-line:Title IX did profoundly impact our society! Byallowing and encouraging girls in sports andextracurricular clubs once slated for onlyboys, it influenced girls to look at careerchoices outside the traditional nursing andeducation. Title IX has started a movement inthe twenty-first century showing girls thatthere are no limitations to what a girl can do.Ironically, Avonworth was years ahead of thenation in allowing women choices. 2012 2005 AHS Girls Basketball WPIAL Champions

Avonworth High School Update 2014-2015• 20 Coed extracurricular activities• Girls at AHS take sports for granted• 45% of girls played sports in 2014• First girl competed on Avonworth boys’ wrestling team this year• 4 Girls Only sports: basketball, volleyball, softball, and soccer• 3 Coed sports: swimming, track & cross country 2012 AHS Coed Swim Team

Comparison of SportsOffered at AvonworthThroughout The YearsGIRLS SPORTS4.5 COED SPORTS 43.5 32.5 21.5 10.5 0 1938 1947 1952 1961 1969 1972 1977 1991 2013 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1938 1947 1952 1961 1969 1972 1977 1991 2013BOYS SPORTS76543210 1938 1947 1952 1961 1969 1972 1977 1991 2013

Comparison of Extracurricular Activities at Avonworth2520 COED EXTRACURRICULAR15 ACTIVITIES/CLUBS GIRLS ONLY EXTRACURRICULAR10 ACTIVITIES/CLUBS BOYS ONLY 5 EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITES/CLUBS 0 1938 1947 1952 1961 1969 1972 1977 1991 2013 Boys Only Clubs = Decreased Girls Only Clubs = Decreased Coed Activities = Increased

How does Avonworth measure up? Then & Now… Avonworth High School has been on the leading edge in terms of protecting studentsfrom discrimination based on sex in both educationalprograms and extracurricularactivities throughout the years.

Citations:\"Title IX And Sex Discrimination.\" U.S. Department of Education. U.S. Department ofEducation, n.d. Web. 5 Jan. 2015.Remme, Mark. Lynx Reflect On Title IX. WNBA, n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2015.\"Girl's Basketball Summary.\" The Ben Avenues [Pittsburgh] 13 Feb. 1929: n. pag. Print.\"History Of The WPIAL.\" WPIAL. Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League, n.d.Web. 6 Jan. 2015.Knox, Jennie-Lynn. \"BAAHA Interview.\" Interview by Abby Stewart. n.d.: n. pag. Web.Jackson, Janet. \"BAAHA Interview.\" Interview by Abby Stewart. n.d.: n. pag. Web.O’Malley, Cheryl. \"BAAHA Interview.\" Interview by Abby Stewart. n.d.: n. pag. Web.De Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 1938. Print.De Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 1947. Print.De Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 1950. Print.De Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 1952. Print.De Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 1962. Print.De Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 1962. Print. Janet (Rigdon) JacksonDe Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 1965. Print. Class of 1952De Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 1966. Print.De Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 1969. Print.De Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 1970. Print.De Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 1971. Print.De Rebus. Vol. 2. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 1972. Print.De Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 1977. Print. Cheryl (Keith) O’MalleyDe Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 1979. Print. Class of 1970De Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 2000. Print.De Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 2005. Print.De Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 2012. Print.De Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 2013. Print.De Rebus. Pittsburgh: Avonworth High School, 2014. Print. Jennie-Lynn Knox Class of 1971