From Sunday's Sun-Times Editorial page: http://chicago.suntimes.com/opinion/...ight-gymnasium

Part of what makes high school great is being a part of clubs and teams. Lessons in the classroom, as well as life lessons, take on new significance when kids put them to use in a debate competition or a basketball game. When well-meaning parents get too involved, those opportunities are tainted and sometimes ruined.

A high school boys basketball game between Morgan Park and Simeon scheduled for Saturday – Jan. 16 – was postponed Friday evening after parents of Morgan Park players said they would not allow their sons to play because the game was going to be played at a neutral site instead of at home in Morgan Park’s tiny gymnasium.

Chicago Public Schools postponed the game “to ensure a venue is selected that meets the needs of students, families and both school communities,” according to a statement.

Parents won the standoff but we wish they had not put their sons in the middle of this fight with CPS.

Morgan Park’s gymnasium holds only 270 people. It cannot accommodate the crowd expected for a game dubbed the Battle of Vincennes between powerhouse teams from the South Side. It is common for the game to be played at a neutral, larger site when it is Morgan Park’s turn to host.

In a letter to a Morgan Park parent that was obtained by the Sun-Times, Ald. Matt O’Shea, 19th, said Morgan Park Principal Carolyn Epps had valid concerns about public safety if the game were held at Morgan Park. Still fresh in the minds of some is the death three years ago of a Morgan Park student who was shot in the parking lot of Chicago State University, the neutral site chosen in 2013.

That letter apparently didn’t satisfy the parents, who also want a new gymnasium.

There is a simple solution for the future. When it is Simeon’s turn to host Morgan Park, that game should also be moved to a neutral site. “If they know ahead of time that they are going to move Morgan Park’s game to a neutral site, then it is probably only fair that our game be at a neutral site too. That just make sense,” Simeon coach Robert Smith told the Sun-Times’ Michael O’Brien.

Another option is for the game to be played at Morgan Park with no fans in attendance, something CPS schools do when they cannot provide adequate security. But that would rob the players and community of the game’s thrilling atmosphere.

Yes, Morgan Park needs a new gymnasium. The school was built 100 years ago and later expanded. We sympathize with students who attend rundown schools. Newer schools across Chicago gleam with state-of-the-art libraries, computer labs and gymnasiums.

But Morgan Park has many pressing needs amid a citywide budget crunch. In the last five years $30 million has been spent on the school’s computer labs, science labs and other major renovations on windows, roofing, heating and cooling, O’Shea said in his letter. Those improvements benefit the entire the student body.

Morgan Park has a lot going for it. The school had 74 percent of its students go on to college last year. That’s way above the norm for Chicago Public Schools. Two years ago it expanded its International Baccalaureate program. That’s not saying all is well there. But we see a school that has its priorities straight.

Some things are more important than a bigger gym.