Video: Star athlete kicked off team because of residency dispute

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SEATTLE - Tony Wroten Jr. is rated among the nation's top sophomore guards, but he has been ruled ineligible to attend or play basketball for Garfield High School because he failed to meet residency requirements.

His family was served a notice Friday by Seattle Public Schools. It claims extensive investigation showed Wroten does not live in district boundaries and would be terminated as a student.

"Anger, disappointment," said his mother, Shirley Wroten. "First I thought this was a joke."

She said the family rented a house blocks away from Garfield so that he and his sister could remain in Seattle schools – the only schools they've known.

They also own a home in Renton where their dad lives a majority of the time.

"They asked me for a rental agreement, we gave them a rental agreement. They asked for some kind of an ID with this address on it, I had my license changed and I gave them a copy of that. They wanted a utility bill, I gave them that. I gave them everything they asked me to give to them," said Shirley Wroten.

Tony Wroten Sr. believes his family is being unfairly targeted and a handful of visits doesn't warrant pulling a child out of school.

"For them to say they've come by here six or seven times and say the car is not here… they never knocked on the door, they never came in, they never talked to our landlord who works in the Seattle School District," he said.

For now the Wrotens have hired an attorney. They would like to have him back in class by finals next week.

"When are you going to put the kid first?" asked Tony Wroten Sr. "He's a 15-year-old kid. This is about education, about not leaving one student behind."

In a statement, the Seattle School District stands behind Tony's termination. They say the investigation did indeed reveal that he is not a resident of Seattle and it would be inappropriate to allow him to continue to attend classes at Garfield.