It’s the academic equivalent of dribbling the ball off your foot.
A young Brooklyn basketball star says she is in danger of losing her Division I scholarship because administrators at her high school have failed to submit routine paperwork to the NCAA.
Forward Aurellia Cammock of Canarsie, who came to New York from Jamaica with her family, was on track for a free ride to Iona College after a stellar career at Brooklyn Generation School.
“It was just amazing,” Cammock said. “I felt accomplished, like all my hard work did not go to waste.”
But since then, the Canarsie school has put her scholarship in jeopardy by dragging its feet in dealing with NCAA officials, said Edward Kratt, a lawyer retained by her family.
The NCAA requires any student athlete receiving financial aid to submit transcripts and course descriptions for certification.
And, although the school sent descriptions of some of Cammock’s course work to the NCAA, Kratt says it has not submitted others.
He said he asked Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott in three letters to intervene, but has gotten no response.
“In my mind . . . they should have a banner up saying, ‘Congratulations, Aurellia! You just got a full scholarship to a Division I school. Your future is unlimited,’ ” Kratt said.
“Their attitude is totally the opposite of that, like, ‘Don’t bother us.’
“She’s a great basketball player and a great student, and she could lose this opportunity.”
A city Department of Education spokesperson last night said the NCAA has determined Cammock is not academically eligible.
“The department, along with the school, have been working to support this student’s scholarship application,” the spokesperson said. “Unfortunately, the NCAA concluded that the student did not meet the eligibility requirements.”
But Cammock’s mom, Jean Smith, 52, a health-care worker, disputed that, insisting Iona told her it has not received all the paperwork from her daughter’s school.
“They were the ones who messed up. My daughter had all the qualifications,” she said. “I’ve been on this since last December. They did not submit all the transcripts.
“I thought everything would be OK,” Smith added. “They’re dragging their feet. This is ridiculous. Really ridiculous.
The school’s principal, Lydia Colón Bomani, did not return a call for comment.
Brooklyn Generation is a division of what was once South Shore HS, which was closed in 2010.
Cammock, who led the Lady Vikings in scoring and rebounding this past season, is scheduled to report to Iona for workouts and student-athlete summer classes in July.
“So I’ll be going up there July 8th still not knowing if I’m going to be eligible to play or attend the school, or if my scholarship will still stand,” she said. “I would feel really disappointed [if the scholarship is revoked]. It’s really sad just thinking about it, because when I first got the scholarship, I was like, ‘OK, I’m set.’ ”
“Now all this news comes that [my] scholarship can be taken away, and that’s heartbreaking.”