Beren Academy: They are letting us play pre-Shabbos basketball!

Earlier today we reported that attorney Nathan Lewin was filing a lawsuit on behalf of the Robert M. Beren Academy, as the Modern Orthodox school in Houston fought to get the start time changed for its state seminfinal 2A boys basketball game. Now the school just released a statement saying that the Texas Asscociation of Private and Parochial Schools has reversed itself and agreed to a pre-Shabbos start time.

Here’s the statement from the school:

Robert M. Beren Academy (RMBA) is pleased to announce that the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) has informed us that they will reschedule the Class 2A basketball schedule to permit the RMBA team to play this Friday without violating our Sabbath.

We are thankful to the TAPPS for ultimately making the right decision. The school administration and board was not involved in any legal action and we regret that it took a law suit filed parents to bring about this decision.

We greatly appreciate the strong outpouring of support from so many. We thank Mayor Anise Parker, Senator John Cornyn and others from throughout the city of Houston, the great state of Texas, the United States, and around the world. We particularly want to acknowledge the many member schools in TAPPS who supported efforts to change the schedule to enable our boys to play. Special thanks to Our Lady of the Hills Catholic High School, for allowing us to reschedule the start time of the regional finals round game on Friday, February 24th.

We are very proud of our basketball team, the Beren Stars.  Not only have the boys demonstrated considerable skill on the court this season, they have handled the stress of the past week with extraordinary maturity and composure.  We also thank Coach Cole, the RMBA Athletic Director, for his outstanding leadership.

The Beren Stars look forward to competing in the state semi-final round tomorrow afternoon.