Student With Down Syndrome Forced to Remove High School Letter Jacket

Jolina Kelly bought her son a letter jacket and a varsity letter to show his participation on Wichita East’s special needs basketball team. Michael Kelly, a student with down syndrome and autism, wore the jacket to school, but was quickly forced to remove it and wear a girl’s sweatshirt instead. WKSN TV asked school principal Ken Thiessen why the controversial decision was made and if he would consider giving varsity letters to special needs athletes.

“We have considered it, and our decision was no. We decided that it is not appropriate in our situation because it is not a varsity level competition,” Thiessen explained. There is no district wide policy banning special needs athletes from receiving letters. Hopefully this ruling is reversed and Kelly is allowed to wear his jacket just like the rest of the student athletes at the school. Make sure to check out the full story in the video above.