CMS athletes can expect tougher rules next year, after an eligibility scandal which plagued teams at several schools.

The athletic eligibility committee has finished its assignment and has presented Superintendent Peter Gorman with some recommendations.

WBTV's Dedrick Russell reports from the Eduction Center on the committee's decision.
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It took four meetings and about ten hours for the committee to complete its assignment.

Members came up with eleven recommendations the superintendent can decide to put in place right now.

They include setting up a whistle-blowing mechanism where students can tell authorities if their teammates are ineligible to play.

Another recommendation is student handbooks should have a consistent message about the consequences of lying about where you live to play sport.

Another one is that students and parents must watch a video first before playing sports about athletic eligibility and the district may create a slogan that will remind students academics comes first not sports. One idea was "Athletics is an option, not a ticket."

This school year, 175 high school CMS students were investigated over eligibility concerns. Of that number, 44 were deemed ineligible to play sports.

Committee members were glad they helped CMS tackle this problem while the superintendent believes the eligibility problem will probably never go away.