D.C. official to introduce bill requiring schools to report boys and girls sports data

The gaps between the number of girls enrolled in the District’s traditional high schools and the number who actually play sports ranged from a low of 5 percent at majority-female Banneker to 19 percent at Wilson to 26 percent at Ballou and Roosevelt, according to 2010 data, the latest available, that the National Women’s Law Center obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

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“Parents have a right to this information,” said Neena Chaudhry, legal counsel for the National Women’s Law Center. “We talk to students and parents all the time, and they can see what the boys are getting that the girls aren’t. But they don’t have a sense of the whole picture or just how widespread the problems are.”

Chaudhry said it was particularly important that the proposed legislation covers charter schools, where more than 40 percent of D.C. public school students are enrolled and where there is no currently public information on sports or sports equity.

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A similar effort calling for regular equity reporting died in the council a few years ago. Johnson and Chaudhry said that with the complaints filed and media attention, they are more “hopeful” this time.