The City of Richmond has a rich history filled with success. One has to look at the fact that we have had many successful people come from this town. Athletes like Willie McGee, former major league baseball player, Elijah “Pumpsie” Green, first African-American baseball player with the Boston Red Sox in 1959 and Andrew Gooden, current NBA basketball player with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Yes, Richmond, California has a high crime rate and it is not the most desirable place to live. However, it has nice areas. A few parts of the city are downtrodden and dangerous, just like any other metropolition area.

With that said, readers of this blog should be pleased that I am taking the time to provide written comments that state the facts and not rumors. This afternoon, Richmond High School completed the additional paperwork requested from the Clearinghouse and now those documents have been scanned and will be emailed to the clearinghouse with the hard copies federal expressed this evening. It is our hope that a ruling will be made by Friday to allow complete clearance in this case. I want to remind people that a hardship waiver does not necessarily mean that it is based on deficiancies with a student’s academic record.

One clarification I want to make is that Matt Banker is still working on the application. He has gotten a promotion and I have been told that he has the authority to rule on the application. I have no direct evidence of this, but I believe it comes from a reliable source.

Finally, one reader made the comment that a hardship application spoke to the academic record of the student. This is one interpretation, however, the accurate fact is that this Hardship application had to do with our inability, as a school district, to timely submit confirming documents that would show the student’s course work and their test scores. We missed returnig our documents prior to the start of school at Indiana University. If we had gotten those documents prior to the start of school, this application would have been moot. So, as stated in the past, it is the fact that our internal systems failed and not the acts of the student.

I hope this makes sense. As an attorney, I have read statutes and codes and understand the importance of maintaining privacy, however, I disagree that I have to remain silent in the face of comments that seem to imply a different story. For me to not comment when I have read at least six articles in local papers wondering what is the situation would be unfair to all concerned parties.

This is my final comment. Our district has now complied with our legal requirements by completing the forms. So I wish the best for everyone involved in this process. I am very glad that no one gave up. In the end good things happen to good people and I will keep my fingers crossed that the application is approved before Midness Madness.

I would also hope that you would come and visit our school district if you are ever in the San Francisco Bay Area. We are a large district that covers five cities located 15 miles north east of San Francisco. We serve over 30,000 students and we have six comprehensive high schools. You can visit our webpage at http://www.wccusd.k12.ca.us.

Like most americans, we are law abiding and fun to be with. We are proud that we have sent a good student to represent us from our community. He spent his entire school career(k-12) with us. We are wishing him well.

This is an exciting time. We mention Elijah at our school board meetings. It is not often that we have students who get the chance to play Big Ten basketball. I have been on this school board for 14 years and besides Andrew Gooden going to Kansas in 1999 this is the higest profile athlete we have had during my tenure on the board of trustees.

This is a big deal and I look forward to him being at the Ribbon Cutting when we finish rebuilding our new basketball gym that will hold 1,600 students next year. He promised me that he would open the new gym along with Andrew Gooden.

Take care.

Charles T. Ramsey, esq,
School Board Member
West Contra Costa
Unified School District

I don’t disagree that the information should be private, but it is not our job to police Mr. Ramsey.

I think the community of Richmond has had far too much negative press and this is a situation where negative press is not warranted. Therefore, he and Ms. Kronenburg found it appropriate to comment. We are thrilled they chose to give us their perspective on this and appreciate their comments.

It simply is not appropriate for a school board member to publically comment on this type of thing. There is a reason that the NCAA prohibits its member schools from doing so.

A student’s academic standing, his grades, whether his grades are high enough for NCAA qualification or whether they are low enough that a hardship requirement might be required is all confidential informaiton. In fact, federal law requires that teachers, administrators and board members keep such information confidentional. Regardless of his intentions, it is inappropriate for a school board member, who has apparently been privy to a students academic record, to publicly comment on the veracity of that record. If this stuff was supposed to be public knowledge the NCAA or Eli would have made it public.

Now, I realize that he is trying to protect a student’s reputation. But it is a slippery slope to say that it is OK to discuss a student’s academic record as long as the board member believes its in the student’s interest– thats not the board members decision to make.

Certainly, you would be mad if a school board member from your HS came forward and said, “Big A didnt score so well on the SAT, so I would question the value or logic of the articles he writes.” While this is an extreme example, this is why absolute and complete confidentiality is necessary.

He is defending Eli and letting everyone know that he did everything he was supposed to do. Why would you be pissed if someone was defending you publicly that you did well in school? He’s holding the school administration accountable which is his job as a member of the school board.

The IU basketball community appreciates your efforts, as I hope your community and Eli’s family does as well.

Thank you for coming on and clarifying your role and position and I wish you luck.

Thanks for the additional comments. We appreciate your insight and look forward to seeing Eli in the cream and crimson.

We have no interest in being regulars on this page nor do we anticipate posting in the future. However, Madeline and I both believe it is important that rumors and innuendo’s are kept to a minimum and that providing you relevant and accurate information is best for all parties involved. Remember, we are speaking about the reputation of a young person. Hopefully providing you relevant and updated information gives you insight into what is happening so that no one misunderstands the current circumstances.

Unfortunately, Richmond High administrators failed to consider the ramifications of failing to promptly and accurately submit paperwork that was vital to Elijah’s academic and athletic future earlier this summer. As a result, his eligibility still remains in limbo until we work through the bureaucratic NCAA process. We as school board members have intervened due to the serious nature of the situation. We want a quick resolution of the issue.

At this moment, we still do not have a resolution as we are awaiting compliance forms from the NCAA Clearinghouse to complete. Also my superintendent, Bruce Harter, notified me that Matt Banker just recently left the NCAA Clearinghouse. Without these forms, Richmond High School administrators cannot move forward and complete the work. Please remain patient with our district and give Elijah support. He is a youth worthy of it.

I am equally as frustrated and I have only come to truly appreciate how challenging it is when people fail to appreciate the seriousness of being timely with forms. Finally, my colleagues written statement “He is our boy”, was just a dramatic way of expressing our commitment to him and his future. Making a big point out of the use of this vernacular is missing the mark. Let us all stay focused on the objective, which is providing this young adult with an opportunity of a lifetime at a legendary basketball institution.

Thanks again and please understand that we will remain vigilant in getting the forms from the clearinghouse as well as having our staff complete the appropriate paperwork. I have the authority as the elected school trustee to direct our superintendent and staff to focus their energies on this pending application. Please note that Indiana University has additionally submitted a hardship waiver on Eli’s behalf to the NCAA. I wrote a two page letter in support of this petition. Although, we understand and appreciate the rationale behind submitting the hardship waiver, we maintain that it is unnecessary since Elijah meets all NCAA eligibility guidelines as required for incoming freshmen. We want everyone to know that Elijah did not need a handout. Nonetheless, basketball season is around the corner and the basketball staff at Indiana probably felt that they could not wait any longer on our school district. This is only speculation on my part, but I can see why they would not want to wait any longer after our staff had Richmond High School had waited this long to become engaged in working through the paperwork.

Hope this helps and I will once again provide my phone number to allow the maintainers of this site to verify the authenticity of this email.

Best wishes. Although I am a graduate of UCLA and a loyal supporter of the Bruins. I look forward to cheering for the Hoosiers.

Charles T. Ramsey, Esq.
School Board Trustee
West Contra Costa
Unified School District.