Joe and his father moved to LeMars on August 3, 2000. Prior to their move to LeMars, Joe and his father lived in Sioux City.During his freshman year, Joe attended Heelan. That year, Joe lived with his mother and father in Sioux City. He attended Heelan during the first semester of his sophomore year and participated in football. During that first semester, Joe's parents started divorce proceedings. Joe and his father moved out of what had been the family home to an apartment in Sioux City in November of 1999. The divorce was final on December 15, 1999. Under the divorce decree Joe's father, Appellant Eric Tweet, was granted primary physical care of Joe with joint legal custody to both parents. As a result of the divorce proceedings, Joe's father experienced a significant decrease in his finances. Joe's father was forced to tell Joe that he could no longer afford the tuition at Heelan. Joe then transferred to Sioux City West High School on January 14, 2000, at the beginning of the second semester of his sophomore year. Joe did not want to make the transfer. He wanted to stay with his friends at Heelan, most of whom had attended school with Joe at Sacred Heart School, a kindergarten through eighth grade nonpublic school in Sioux City.
Joe did not compete in track as a sophomore at Sioux City West because he was ineligible for 90 school days following his January 14, 2000, transfer. His father remarried on August 3, 2000, and moved with Joe to LeMars, Iowa, to live with his new wife at her residence there. Due to the passage of time and the remarriage, Joe's father was then able to once again afford the tuition at Heelan. Joe returned to Heelan for his junior year. Joe sought to compete in football, track and wrestling at Heelan. The Association decided that Joe was ineligible to compete in interscholastic athletics under the provisions of 281?Iowa Administrative Code 36.15(3).
In this case, Joe's situation falls squarely within the language of 281 IAC 36.15(5)(c). Joe has transferred from a public school, Sioux City West High School, to a nonpublic school, Heelan High School, after the ninth grade. Joe's transfer occurred with a contemporaneous change of parental residence. It is undisputed that Joe and his father changed residences on August 3, 2000, and that Joe transferred to Heelan on August 14, and began football practice. August 21, 2000, was the first day of school at Heelan. The transfer and the change of parental residence occurred within 30 school days of each other. Accord-ing to the definition used by the Association, these two events were "contemporaneous." Mr. Saggau testified that the Association uses the terms "contemporaneous" and "corresponding" interchangeably. See, In re Kyle Bargfrede, 19 D.o.E. App. Dec. 30 (2000).
Evidence showed that the motivating factor for the transfer back to Heelan High School was for Joe to get back to the status quo in his life, which was interrupted against his will by his parents' divorce proceedings.
That the September 29, 2000, decision of the Board of Control of the Iowa High School Athletic Association, declaring Eric Joseph Tweet, Jr., ineligible to compete in athletics for 90 school days at Bishop Heelan High School, was reversed.