Parents and students press Wyoming Area SD board to establish girls wrestling team, cite Title IX concerns

Multiple parents, students and alumni urged the Wyoming Area School District Board of Education to create a girls wrestling team, saying female wrestlers at Wyoming Area have missed tournament opportunities, unequal accommodations and potential safety issues while competing on boys teams.

"My name is Carrie Carpenter. Giovanna Chapman is my daughter. I'm here to share my experience as a mother of a girl wrestler in a boys team," said Carrie Carpenter, who described repeated instances in which her daughter had to wait to use a boys locker-room scale for weigh-ins, sometimes missing mat time. Carpenter also said her daughter suffered multiple injuries during four years wrestling on the boys squad, including "broken noses, fractured ribs, broken collarbones, multiple concussions" and a UCL tear.

The petitioners asked the board to take several steps: make the district's Title IX participation data publicly accessible, conduct a formal survey of student interest in a girls team, and approve the creation of a girls wrestling program so female wrestlers could compete in girls-only tournaments and not be denied PIAA tournament "tokens" currently allocated through boys programs.

"A Wyoming Area girls team would give them a place to grow, compete, and gain confidence in the sport," said Martina Bonning, a junior high wrestler who described wanting to lead a future girls team. Alumna Sydney Johnson, who wrestled on the boys team as a high school student, said a girls division helped her niece "win her weight class" at an all-girls tournament and boosted her confidence.

A student speaker, Jeremiah Chapman, described both the physical demands of the sport and instances when opponents refused to wrestle a girl at tournaments. Another parent, Ted Lasher, said many elementary and middle-school girls already wrestle and that interest exists among younger students.

A person addressing the board at length about Title IX — identified in the transcript as a community commenter — urged the district to document current participation and to act under the law if it is not meeting one of the three Title IX compliance prongs. "Title IX requires school to provide equal athletic opportunities," the commenter said, and asked whether the district has surveyed female students or compiled current participation data.

District representatives acknowledged the concerns but did not record a formal vote at the meeting. A staff member told speakers that the district had reached out to Dr. Starnes, the PIAA contact for wrestling, and that surveying and other steps would take time. The staff member said the district was entering budget season and any new team would need to be planned into budget figures.

Speakers also described a previous attempt to form a cooperative (co-op) with Hanover Area to field a girls program, which attendees said did not proceed because the other school chose not to engage. A representative identified as affiliated with Hanover said that Hanover currently fields a girls team.

The board did not adopt any action at the meeting on forming a girls wrestling team. Commenters asked that the board post Title IX participation data publicly, initiate a survey of female student interest, and follow up with written responses; a board staff member said they would attempt follow-up and suggested that petitioners provide written requests to facilitate that work.

The meeting included routine reports and agenda listings (communications, finance, education, activities, retirements and requests for fundraisers) that were read aloud; the transcript did not record votes or final board actions on those agenda items during the segment covering public comment.

Speakers requested that the district provide clearer communication about next steps and produce accessible Title IX participation figures so the community can track whether further action is needed.