The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty has sued the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association and the Baraboo School District on behalf of a family whose daughter was barred from varsity sports after she transferred to Baraboo High School.
The lawsuit was filed Jan. 23 in Sauk County Circuit Court.
Macy Weigel attended Community Christian School of Baraboo, a private school with no athletics program. During her freshman year, her youngest sibling was diagnosed with a rare and deadly blood condition and spent nine weeks in the hospital. Her mother, Emily, left her full-time teaching job, and her father, Nathan, became the only provider for the family of six.
After Macy’s sophomore year, the family could no longer afford the $7,800 tuition, and she enrolled at Baraboo High School, where she planned to play softball. Under the WIAA’s transfer rule, that made her ineligible for varsity sports for a year.
The Baraboo district asked the WIAA for a waiver. A WIAA staff member denied it, writing, “It appears this student’s situation has come about largely as a result of choices, decisions and/or actions made by Macy and her family,” according to the complaint, as reported by WPR. The district appealed in October, and the WIAA Board of Control denied the appeal on an 8-3 vote.
“Our daughter is not gaming the system,” Emily Weigel said in a WILL news release. “She simply wants to participate in high school sports and is making the best of her family’s involuntary decision to switch schools. The WIAA has gone too far, and we are fighting back on her behalf and the many other students who have been subject to the arbitrary decision-making of this organization.”
WILL argues the Baraboo district unlawfully handed control of its own programs to a purportedly private organization, and that the state superintendent, not the WIAA, holds constitutional supervisory authority over public instruction. Public high schools make up about 80% of WIAA members.
“Our clients live and pay taxes in the school district, and their child has been denied access to programs sponsored and funded by the district because the bureaucrats at the WIAA arbitrarily decided she was not worthy of a ‘waiver’ of their ‘transfer rules,'” said Skylar Croy, a WILL attorney representing the family. “We must rein in this illogical decision making to allow children the full opportunity to flourish and develop.”
WIAA spokesperson Todd Clark told WPR, “Because this is a pending legal matter, the WIAA does not have further comment at this time.” Baraboo district officials said they supported Macy’s wish to play but could not comment on pending litigation.
Update: On March 7, 2025, Sauk County Circuit Judge Michael P. Screnock granted a temporary injunction. In May 2025, the WIAA granted Macy’s waiver, saying that “based on new information recently provided to our organization, we have determined that the student-athlete meets the eligibility requirements.” The Dairyland Sentinel covered that decision here.
