Inglewood High Player Is Cleared

For the second time in a month, the CIF Southern Section has looked into the athletic eligibility of Inglewood High basketball standout Jason Hart and found no evidence that the senior was improperly enrolled at the school.

Four members of the Southern Section Executive Committee determined unanimously Thursday that an earlier ruling by Commissioner Dean Crowley was valid. The committee heard 1 hour 10 minutes of testimony and spent eight minutes reaching its decision.

At issue was whether Hart, a senior who transferred from Westchester last summer, was living in Inglewood.

“Because we don’t have access to testimony that is contradictory to what I’ve heard, I have no other choice but to uphold the commissioner’s earlier decision,” said committee member Gary Smidderks, principal at Los Angles Baptist High in North Hills.

Ken Gunn, the committee chairman and principal at Walnut High, said he isn’t certain the truth will ever be known.

“These things are impossible to ever know for sure,” he said. “Based on the information we were presented today, I think we made the right decision.”

Crowley ordered an investigation into Hart’s eligibility on Jan. 9, after learning of allegations concerning Hart’s residence. He cleared Hart of any wrongdoing on Jan. 17 after reviewing an 18-page report prepared by Inglewood Principal Kenneth Crowe that indicated Hart lived in the school’s attendance area and was properly enrolled.

Hart, a 6-foot-2 point guard who signed a letter of intent with Syracuse, was suspended from the team from Jan. 9-12 while Crowe conducted an internal review.

Last Monday, Crowley reopened the case in response to a Times article that turned up possible discrepancies in Crowe’s report. Crowley decided to let the committee rule on the matter.

During Thursday’s hearing, a point of contention was whether the Inglewood address Hart used to establish residency is in the attendance area for Morningside High or Inglewood High.

Crowe said that, although the address is in the Morningside attendance area, it also lies within a “hardship area” from where students may attend either Morningside or Inglewood.

“Kids who live within a block or two of the boundaries are within the ‘hardship area,’ and our attendance clerks will verify that when they enroll,” Crowe said.

The Inglewood address Hart used to establish residency is four blocks from the attendance boundary. Maria Martin, the child-welfare and attendance administrator for the Inglewood Unified School District, said last month that students who live in the Morningside attendance area and wish to attend Inglewood must acquire intra-district permits. Officials at both schools say there is no record of Hart having one.

When asked Thursday about the “hardship area” Crowe described at the hearing, Martin said she had been told she couldn’t talk to The Times.

After hearing from Jason Hart’s mother, Deborah Hart, the committee also said it was satisfied that the Hart family moved from a house that she owns in South-Central Los Angeles to a rental house in Inglewood near the Forum in September.

Gunn acknowledged that Crowley and other Southern Section administrators had done no investigating and based Thursday’s hearing on information in The Times.