Vermont News First
A version of this story appeared in the Vermont Standard newspaper in Woodstock this week.
MONTPELIER — Three years after being banned from all extracurricular activities, including sports by the Vermont Principals’ Association, the Mid Vermont Christian School is headed back to the post season girls basketball tournament.
The fourth-seeded MVCS Eagles post a home win over No. 13 The Sharon Academy 63-28 on Wednesday in a VPA Division IV playdown game.
The win gives the Eagles another home game by hosting a quarter final game with No. 5 Williamstown on Friday at 7 p.m. Williamstown beat No. 12 Poultney 62-34 on Tuesday evening.
The VPA voted to ban Mid Vermont Christian as a member after the school attempted to protest in February 2023 a player born as a biological boy – and transitioning to being a girl – playing for the girls team, according to federal court papers.
MVCS, in its lawsuit, had maintained the Long Trail School in Dorset had created an unsafe and unfair situation by having the tall, oversized player on its girls team. The player was more than 6-feet tall.
A federal appeals court in New York City ruled last September that the VPA had violated its own rules and discriminated against MVCS, the private school located in Quechee. It came when the school said it would take a forfeit rather than play the team with a transgender player, records show.
The VPA then took the unprecedented step to vote to impose a full ban on Mid Vermont from all sports and activities.
The pairings for the girls tournament came out Sunday and are somewhat deceptive. The VPA lists Mid Vermont with a 4-2 record, which reflects games played only against Vermont high schools. The losses came to two higher division schools: Mount Anthony (56-48) and Vergennes (44-32).
The Eagles beat Twinfield (48-23), Rivendell (43-40), Blue Mountain (48-23) and picked up a forfeit win over Grace Christian of Bennington.
The VPA did not give any credit for the games MVCS played this winter against teams in the New England Association of Christian Schools.
The VPA also moved No. 4 West Rutland into the third seed even when it had a lower ranking score, but rounded up to even MVCS. The VPA cited the strength of schedule to edge West Rutland past Mid Vermont.
MVCS actually finished the winter season with a 22-3 record between VPA and NEACS games.
Mid Vermont had a 9-0 record in its conference in NEACS games to capture the regular season crown in the 20-team league.
While the federal appeals court in New York City ordered the VPA to restore MVCS as a member, most Vermont high schools were locked in for their 2025-26 winter schedule so there was little to no room to add games this winter. Most schools are on a two-year cycle, so there may also be some limits to add games next year.
The final records for this winter show several Vermont high schools failed to reach the 20-game maximum schedule imposed by VPA.
In Division IV, Richford, Mount St. Joseph (Rutland), Williamstown, Twin Valley (Wilmington), Danville and Twinfield (Plainfield) were among the schools that played only 19 games, posted records indicated.
In Division III, Hazen (Hardwick), Vergennes, Green Mountain Union (Chester) and Randolph played only 19 games, records show.
In Division II, Lamoille, Spaulding (Barre), Otter Valley (Brandon), Harwood (Duxbury) each were lacking one game, while Montpelier had two games available, final records show.
It was unclear if any of those schools were feeling either internal or external pressure to not schedule Mid Vermont Christian due to the federal court overruling the VPA’s actions.
MVCS Head Coach Chris Goodwin said the Eagles have a well-balanced team. He said five MVCS players have ended up as the top scorers in various games this season. He said many of the players are part of the same crew that were mostly freshman and eighth graders when the VPA imposed the ban three years ago for the Long Trail School game.
The MVCS team includes seniors, Lydia Dickey, a center and Kira Gray, a forward, along with juniors, Rebekah Roberts, a point guard, and Jorja DuPlessis, a forward.
Two others with considerable playing time are guards Myranda Goodwin, a sophomore and Kaia Gray, a freshman.
“We are nursing injuries and dealing with a close hard-fought loss up at Vergennes which took place last week as we enter VPA postseason play,” Goodwin told the Vermont Standard.
“Hopefully we can meet the moment and play our best ball of the year these next two weeks,” the veteran coach said.
The Eagles have had some athletic success including most recently sharing the Division IV Vermont high school basketball crown in 2020 in a season cut short by COVID. MVCS (17-6) knocked off No. 1 West Rutland in the semifinals, but the final with Proctor was called off creating co-champs for the first time.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City said in a unanimous decision in September that MVCS has a strong discrimination claim.
“We conclude that Plaintiffs are likely to succeed in showing that the VPA’s expulsion of Mid Vermont was not neutral because it displayed hostility toward the school’s religious beliefs,” the judge wrote.
The three-judge panel said it found open hostility by the VPA toward Mid Vermont Christian. The judges also noted the VPA failed to follow its own rules and policies in its rush to dismiss the Christian school from the statewide association.
The ruling overturned a decision by Senior Federal Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford in Burlington that allowed the banishment to remain in place while the two sides battle in court. The lawsuit will continue, but the court ruled MVCS can participate.
The court, in its 19-page decision, was very critical of VPA Executive Director Jay Nichols and his conduct toward MVCS and other religious schools in Vermont.
“In sum, Plaintiffs are likely to succeed in establishing that Defendants acted with hostility toward Mid Vermont’s religious beliefs. The VPA Executive Director publicly castigated Mid Vermont – and religious schools generally – while the VPA rushed to judgement on whether and how to discipline the school,” the judges said.
“In upholding the expulsion, the VPA doubled down on that hostility by challenging the legitimacy of the school’s religious beliefs. And as noted above, the punishment imposed was unprecedented, overbroad and procedurally irregular,” the judges wrote.
The judges ordered the case sent back to Vermont with instructions to grant Plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction to allow for Mid Vermont’s reinstatement as a VPA member.
Mid Vermont Christian School, founded in 1987, is a private faith-based pre-K-12 school in Windsor County, whose religious beliefs drive and form the foundation for everything it does. It maintains competing against a male-born athlete would have violated the school’s religious convictions. MVCS joined the VPA about 1993-94 when it fielded its first basketball team.