As of early Friday afternoon, Superintendent Dan Foster said the school had yet to receive official notification of the lawsuit or any documentation. He added that he first received word of the matter just after lunch Thursday when he received a telephone call from WIBC-Radio in Indianapolis. The second call, he said, came from WGN in Chicago. Then the phone calls poured into the school all afternoon from media across northern Indiana.

A lawsuit wasn't an item Foster anticipated on his agenda as he completed his first week as the new superintendent of Eastern Pualski Community Schools.

The plaintiff, 12 year-old “C.B.,” is a seventh grader at WCMS in the Eastern Pulaski Community School Corporation. The school’s seventh grade football team is made up solely of male students, and no male student who wants to join is turned away.

C.B. and her father, Joseph Button, asked the principal and athletic director if she could try out for the team, but were told that girls were not allowed to join, and that C.B. should instead participate in volleyball or cross country. The school’s decision not to allow C.B. to try out for the football team solely because of her gender violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

ACLU of Indiana Legal Director Ken Falk said, “Numerous courts have recognized that gender is not a valid excuse for keeping young women out of previously all-male sports. Equal protection demands equality of treatment.”

“The ACLU of Indiana works to secure gender equality and ensure that all women and girls are able to lead lives of dignity, free from discrimination based on gender,” said Jane Henegar, ACLU of Indiana executive director. “We should maintain the momentum, built over the last 40 years, in which we have seen the benefit young women receive from active and full involvement in school athletics.”

When the school corporation does receive notification of the lawsuit, which Foster anticipates will happen after the Labor Day holiday weekend, he said school attorney Tim Murray will look it over and advise school officials on how to proceed. In the meantime, he said "we are doing some homework" on the issue.

"This isn't an uncommon situation," Foster said. "I am aware that there are females on other (typically male) sports teams in other schools, including football. This could absolutely lead to changes in our athletic policy."

Foster confirmed news reports that the plantiff's parents met with Winamac athletic director Bill Ball and middle school principal Ryan Dickinson about their daughter's wish to play football. He said he is "disappointed" about the lawsuit, but does not blame the parents. The lawsuit does, however, hamper the ability of school officials to work with the family because now they must all be advised legally.

Even so, Foster said he is "confident" that a resolution to the issue can be worked out that will be amicable to all.

The case, C.B. v. Eastern Pulaski Community School Corporation, # 3-13-cv-901-TLS, was filed in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Indiana, South Bend Division, on Aug. 28, 2013.