The Birmingham School System Will Change Policy Post Bledsoe Hubbub

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Last summer, the high school transcripts of former Kentucky one-and-doner Eric Bledsoe drew national attention.  The simple summary:


* His grades were boosted which allowed him to be eligible to play college ball.

* The teacher who upped his grade said Bledsoe had done the work to earn the boost.

* Unfortunately, the records and grade books proving Bledsoe’s extra work were nowhere to be found.


In the end, the Birmingham, Alabama school system ruled that Bledsoe’s grade change was on the up-and-up.  That was good enough for the NCAA and Kentucky fans could breathe easy after briefly wondering whether or not John Calipari was about to have a third season erased from the NCAA’s recordbooks.

Following the Bledsoe dust-up, the Birmingham school system is changing the way it does business.  Grade books will be archived in a safer fashion.

This has no bearing on Kentucky’s program now, mind you.  But it does show that the folks in the Birmingham school system realize the Bledsoe situation exposed flaws in their procedures.

In other words: UK fans should consider themselves a bit lucky on the Bledsoe front.

(For the record — Calipari and UK had nothing to do with a high school teacher changing Bledsoe’s grade.  But had the Birmingham schools ruled in a different fashion, Calipari and UK might’ve been guilty of playing an ineligible player — a la Derrick Rose at Memphis — without even knowing it.)