Most parents probably would stop fighting for a high school sports program once their children graduate. But Cheree Coyle is different.

Her daughter is no longer at Chatsworth High, yet she continues to  battle so the girls' softball program receives equal treatment, facilities and funding that boys’ sports do.

Through her actions, the school and the Los Angeles Unified School District found that some of Chatsworth’s athletics programs were out of Title IX compliance, and the district ordered 19 required actions, of which 12½ have been completed, the softball coach said.

“In all cases, it takes a brave parent … to stand up,” said Vicky Barker, legal director of the California Women’s Law Center (CWLC), which got involved after meeting with Coyle. “We relied a lot on her for what happened.”

“Some think I’m crazy. They worry they’d be retaliated against,” Coyle said as she sat in the high school's first-base dugout – another improvement for which she fought. “I told them, ‘You’ve got to do what’s fair. If no one stands up, it’s never gonna change.’ ”

Title IX refers to that part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title XV of the Education Amendments of 1972 amended it to read “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…”

Although there is no mention of athletics, Title IX is well known for its impact on high school and college sports. People have used Title IX to ensure girls' sports receive equal treatment with boys’ sports. The National Women’s Law Center has filed administrative law complaints against 12 school districts nationally, and the CWLC also has used the legal system to enact change in Alhambra and Torrance.

Coyle and Barker met in the fall 2009 at a softball tournament in Huntington Beach in which Coyle’s daughter, Cheyenne, played. The center had a booth inviting people to tell their stories.  “A friend of mine walked by and said, ‘You need to talk to them,’ ” Coyle said.

At Chatsworth, the standard of excellence is the boys' baseball program, one of the most successful of any sport in the LAUSD. One reason is the facilities: The field is extremely well kept by the coach. There is a permanent snack shack behind home plate, permanent foldout seats on the third-base side for fans, an electronic scoreboard and a trailer that serves as a clubhouse. Many of these amenities are the result of furious fund-raising. Coyle knows first-hand because her son, Bobby, played on the 2007 city championship team, and she received an itemized list of where the funds went.  

The girls' softball field, however, was another story. The grass had been trampled because the school leased the field to a men’s soccer league, plus physical education classes and other teams used it throughout the school year. This led to a near-grassless outfield, which turned to mud when it rained. The drainage was so bad that the rain caused flooding from first base across to shortstop.

Coyle’s daughter, Cheyenne, entered Chatsworth High in the fall of 2006 and discovered this. It helped spring Cheree Coyle into action.

“Bobby got to play on a Dodger Stadium-type of field, and (the girls) got to play on a park field,” Cheree Coyle said. “It’s not fair.”

So in 2007 she set about informing various school and district personnel. She even emailed Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s office and received a response two weeks later saying this matter will be directed to the proper people. Soon after, then-principal Jeff Davis got involved but felt stymied by a lack of funds, she said. Coyle said she got a similar response from current principal Tim Guy.

Another early supporter was Donna Smith, a former Chatsworth principal then working for board of education member Jon Lauritzen. She was able to secure $20,000 for a scoreboard that matched the baseball field’s, and for reseeding the outfield grass.

“She has tremendous drive and energy and perseverance,” Smith said of Coyle.  “I was witness to that.”

Coyle was not satisfied. She came to believe the school was violating Tile IX. When she tried to inform Guy, she didn’t get a response, and players started to sense hostility, she said.

Former player Heather Leigh, now playing at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, recalled a time she led a group to the Student Leadership Committee, comprised of teachers, parents and the principal. She said she wanted to speak but kept being put off. When she finally was given a chance, she was quickly told that her time was up.

“I was almost in tears, trying to help future teams get what they deserve,” Leigh said by telephone. “They blew me off.”

Guy said, “The district doesn’t want me to talk” and referred the matter to the Office of Communications, from which spokesperson Monica Carazo emailed a statement that said in part: “The district takes Title IX complaints very seriously and has a strong record of compliance.”

The district finally acted when threatened with a lawsuit. Barker sent the district a letter dated March 29, 2010, that demanded action by April 15 or “[W]e intend to file a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.”

It moved the district to action. Sue Spears, the district’s equity compliance officer, met with Barker to discuss the matter, Barker said. Spears then launched a two-month investigation that found the school to be out of Title IX compliance in the following softball-related areas:

• The softball diamond’s infield was far inferior to the baseball field’s, the result of other teams, physical education classes and outside entities using the field, whereas the baseball field was only used for baseball;
• The baseball field had an electronic scoreboard; the softball field did not (although funding had come through by this time, Coyle said the scoreboard was misplaced and found in storage at Birmingham High, nine miles away; Smith said she attended a game in 2010 and wondered why it had not been installed nearly three years later).

Additionally, the district found two other violations. The school didn’t provide qualified athletic trainers equally to male and female athletes, and the junior varsity basketball programs were not equally scheduled to play on Friday nights.

The district also expressed concern that walk-on coaches, such as softball coach Jay Creps, are not sufficiently briefed on how to access the weight rooms and conditioning facilities, nor are they as knowledgeable in publicizing their sports around campus.

As a result, the district ordered 19 actions. Creps confirmed that the school has satisfied the vast majority of them, thanks in large part to Coyle.

“Cheree’s really gone beyond the call of duty,” Creps said. “She didn’t have to.”

Spears wasn’t made available for an interview, but the district’s statement said,: “The district has followed up with the school and continues to monitor compliance. … LAUSD is the only district in the state that has an Educational Equity Compliance Office dedicated solely to ensuring the civil rights of students.”

Barker said she would hold the district to that because “[T]hat’s what the law says.” She added that the CWLC has not investigated other LAUSD schools because it waits to be approached and no one has.

As a result of the improved facilities, Creps said, he knows of one current freshman who joined the program as a result. However, he won’t know if the upgrades lead to additional players trying out until the fall.

There remains more to do. One of the still-undone required actions is to have a permanent fence placed around the softball field, limiting outside access in the same way as the baseball field fence. Creps said it will cost $17,000 and “I don’t know how to fund-raise $17,000. … It’s a stay-afloat battle.”

Said Coyle: “If you give us the fence, we’ll fund-raise for everything else. We can’t protect the field because (people are) always out there.”

But one thing seems sure, Coyle will continue to fight for softball equality. Her daughter talks to her daily from Gainesville, Fla., where she plays for the University of Florida, which competed in the College World Series.

“It was cool she had our backs so we could be equal,” Cheyenne Coyle said. “They appreciated it. Without her, we’d still be playing on a bad field.”