GAINESVILLE -- Under pressure from an impending lawsuit, the Florida High School Athletic Association voted unanimously on Wednesday to rescind its April decision to cut games from high school varsity and subvarsity schedules.

The FHSAA's emergency session on Wednesday came two days before a hearing in Jacksonville federal court for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order against the FHSAA's April decision. The injunction is part of a lawsuit filed by six parents of girls who participate in FHSAA-sanctioned sports.

''What we did in April we thought at the time was the right thing to do, and what we did today, we think at this time, is the right thing to do,'' said Roger Dearing, executive director of the FHSAA.

The lawsuit, which was filed in June, claims that the FHSAA is in violation of Title IX, which guarantees equality for female student-athletes. Facing a serious budget crisis, the FHSAA moved in April to reduce all varsity sports schedules by 20 percent except for football and competitive cheerleading. Junior varsity schedules were to be cut by 40 percent in all sports.

''We certainly don't want to do anything that violates Title IX,'' Dearing said on Wednesday.

On Friday, the FHSAA is expected to counter the lawsuit, Cook vs. Florida High School Athletic Association, with a motion to have the litigation dismissed. Meanwhile, the FHSAA's ruling Wednesday now allows local school districts to govern athletics schedules, meaning local schools can still vote to reduce schedules.

CURRENT STATE RULES

The FHSAA allows a maximum of 25 contests per season for all varsity sports except football, but local school districts have the authority to impose their own scheduling limitations. Football teams can schedule a maximum of 10 varsity games.

While the FHSAA has tabled its original decision to slash schedules, the organization still faces a lawsuit in federal court. The plaintiffs of the original lawsuit, Cook vs. Florida High School Athletic Association, are filing the preliminary injunction on Friday in the hopes of ensuring that the FHSAA does not pass future policies to reduce athletics schedules of female student-athletes.

''The hearing for a preliminary injunction and a temporary restraining order is to keep them from being able to impose these cuts,'' said Nancy Hogshead-Makar, the attorney representing the parents of the six girls.

ADVOCATE FOR EQUITY

Hogshead-Makar is a former U.S. swimmer who won four medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics. After her swimming career, Hogshead-Makar studied at Georgetown and became an advocate of equity in sports. She is a professor at Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville and a specialist in Title IX.

Hogshead-Makar has served on two Presidential committees on gender in sports and co-authored Equal Play: Title IX and Social Change in 2007.

The U.S. Department of Justice, siding with the parents of the six girls, recently filed an amicus brief on behalf of the female student-athletes stating that Cook vs. Florida High School Athletic Association ``involves serious allegations of intentional discrimination against female student-athletes in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.''

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