Nick Awalt was a senior at Lamoni High School. He turned 18 years old in August 1998 and moved to Lamoni to begin school there. The evidence at the hearing showed that Nick moved into his own apartment and was supporting himself with no assistance from family and he worked at Graceland College to pay his rent, utilities and phone. Nick was a resident of the Central Decatur District during the previous school year and had open enrolled into Lamoni.

Additional evidence showed that Nick had attended Lamoni schools through 6th grade and had never attended Central Decatur. Nick and his mother had moved to Arizona, where he attended middle school. During his junior year, Nick's mother married a man from Leon. Nick and his mother planned to move back to Iowa at the end of his junior year. His mother contacted Central Decatur and filed an open enrollment request prior to the January 1st deadline. Technically, she could not have filed prior to the time she became a resident of Leon.

Nick and his stepfather had a discussion, during which Nick's stepfather told him he would have to chose to either live full-time in Leon or live full-time in Lamoni. Nick choose Lamoni and when he turned 18, he moved out of his mother's home. A transfer/ineligibility rule that makes no exception is vulnerable to a constitutional challenge. See Sturrup v. Mahan, 261 Ind. 463, 305 N.E.2d 877(1974). In Iowa the presumption of ineligibility can be rebutted. There are exceptions to the rule, under Iowa Code section 256.46 and 281 IAC 36.15(3)(b).

Based upon the evidence at the hearing, Nick's situation comes within 36.15(3)(b)(4). That is because Nick completed his junior year in Arizona and then moved to Iowa. He lived in Lamoni over the summer and then started school in August. He is 18 and emancipated from his mother. Nick is not attending Lamoni under open enrollment. It appears that Nick moved to Lamoni principally to make a home for himself.

That the decision of the Board of Control of the Iowa High School Athletic Association made on September 2, 1998, regarding Nick Awalt, was reversed.