Father Furious After Judge Rules N.J. Catholic School Does Not Have To Readmit Daughters

NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A Catholic school in New Jersey does not have to accept two sisters who were denied reenrollment after their parents sued to get one of them on the boys' basketball team.

As WCBS 880's Kelly Waldron reported, St. Theresa School in Kenilworth has the right to deny Sydney Phillips, 13, and her younger sister, according to a Monday ruling, in which a Superior Court judge said the court does not have the authority to meddle.

Scott Phillips said his daughter, who is entering the eighth grade, just wants to return to the only school she has ever known.

"The school or the archdiocese has never broken her spirit. They broke mine. I am embarrassed to be a Catholic right now. But they did not break hers," he said.

If they have to, Phillips said his girls will go to public school.

In the meantime, the archdiocese released a statement saying that it stands by the decision and wishes the family no ill will.

Sydney was expelled from the school in November after her father successfully sued the school to get her on the boys' basketball team when the girls' team was cancelled for the season.

He won the case, but the school then rejected the applications for Sydney and her younger sister to return in the fall -- so he went back to court to try and reverse their expulsions.

Newark Archbishop Cardinal Joseph Tobin did reverse the expulsion earlier this year. But he said new information caused him to have a change of heart and grant the school's request to deny Sydney and her sister admission for the next school year.

"I came to understand that it wasn't about basketball, finally," Tobin said earlier this month. "I came to understand that it was about the tranquility of a scholastic community – you know, a Catholic school that had a particular mission and was unable to do it, because of, frankly because of the behavior of the parents."