FLORENCE — Chrissi Egan was relieved to finish her final exams Friday.

        The Boone County High School sophomore was even happier a nearly 14-month battle over compliance with federal Title IX gender-equity laws in her school's female athletic programs is nearly finished.

        A tentative agreement between the district and three sets of parents has been filed in U.S. District Court in Covington. District Judge William O. Bertelsman is expected to rule on the agreement July 13.

        “I think it's pretty good,” said Chrissi, a pitcher and outfielder on Boone County's fast-pitch softball team. “We got everything we asked for. I'm glad it's over.”

        If the settlement is approved, the district will build an on-campus facility for soccer and softball. Superintendent Bryan Blavatt said negotiations are under way for a 3-acre site northwest of the school's football field.

        “I feel like this is a win-win situation,” Mr. Blavatt said. “ ... We have to amend our facilities plan. There's a lot of positive out of this. It gave us a chance to communicate with these (plantiffs).”

        School board attorney Gerald Dusing said the case mirrors one in Brevard County, Fla. And Brigid DeVries, an assistant commissioner with the Kentucky High School Athletic Association in Lexington, said no state ground was broken because schools were already working on their Title IX compliance.

        But compliance did not come easy. Last year, the state had to threaten to pull eligibility from any school that did not return its fully completed Title IX compliance forms. That meant football games were threatened as the playoffs approached.

        Two plaintiffs, Ed Lawrence and Kim Egan, have heard the case has had a big impact. They say when they traveled with the softball team to tournaments in Bowling Green and Russell, opponents thanked them and said the suit caused other school boards to build new facilities.

        “It had a ripple effect,” Ms. Egan said.

        Title IX, a section of the 1972 federal education amendments, states that “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 receiving federal financial assistance.”

        The first lawsuits filed under Title IX questioned gender equity in college sports. Only in the last several years have high school standards been questioned in the courts, though Mr. Dusing said Title IX has always applied to public high schools.

        In March 2000, three Florence couples - Patrick and Kim Egan, Ed and Barbara Lawrence and David and Lisa Gatewood - filed suit.

        They claimed the district denied their daughters, Chrissi and fellow softball players Heather Lawrence and Nicole and Lyndsey Gatewood, equal treatment. Part of the complaint stemmed from the fact that Boone County's softball team played its home games at Collins Elementary School in Florence, some 2 miles off campus, while the Rebel baseball team played on campus.

        “Nothing was ever going to be taken away from the boys,” Ms. Egan said. “We just wanted to elevate the girls.”

        Chrissi, who left for Louisville for a softball tournament this weekend, said nobody ribs her anymore about her stand.

        “Nobody gives me any grief anymore,” she said. “I think they understand better.”
       

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