GARY — The never-ending circus surrounding Shanee Butler’s destination in the Gary School System continues.

Three weeks after the situation supposedly was cleared up, with the former leading scorer in Northwest Indiana landing at Roosevelt, she was in the office of West Side athletic director Betty Todd around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday getting an athletic transfer form.

“I saw Shanee walking through the gym the other day and asked her what her name was,” Todd said. “I wasn’t sure it was her. She looks different without her uniform.”

The former Horace Mann girls basketball standout, like hundreds of her fellow classmates, faced a seemingly confusing situation after the school closed in June.

On the advice of her mother, Butler chose to go to Roosevelt after wavering between West Side and Lew Wallace most of the summer.

Supposedly, the transfer hinges on an open enrollment policy that was discussed and proposed by members of the Gary School Board, but never put in writing, several sources say.

Former School Board president Michael Scott was quoted in a Post-Tribune story on July 23 that the board “made the decision to allow any Mann student to enroll in any of the four schools.”

Butler, who did not return several calls Tuesday night, though, was forced to transfer because her residence is just around the corner from West Side.

“I understand a lot of kids got confused that there was an open-door enrollment,” said Roosevelt athletic director John Campbell. “There’s a lot of kids this could affect who may have gone out of their districts to other schools.”

The situation was news to IHSAA commissioner Blake Ress, who thought the general Horace Mann problem was solved a long time ago.

“I’ve spoken to Gary officials on various occasions regarding Mann’s closing,” Ress said on Tuesday. “The students were to go to Roosevelt or Wirt since those were the closest schools to Horace Mann. That’s what the School Board mandated.”

But he added that having a student switch schools because of district boundaries is common and a definite possibility.

“It’s theoretically possible that a school could weigh in on whether a student lives in a different district, saying that you don’t belong here because you live over there.”

Mary Ward, Gary’s director of secondary education, did not return any Post-Tribune calls on Tuesday, while city athletic director Earl Smith claimed he had “no comment on the situation” before he chimed in some more.

“Decisions are made by my superiors downtown,” he added. “I am not a decision-making person. I have nothing to do with Shanee Butler or any students transferring. I just want to see kids play sports.”

Ironically, Butler’s last athletic event at Roosevelt was for the volleyball team last Tuesday when the Panthers lost a match at West Side.

Steve T. Gorches can be reached at 648-3141 or e-mail at sgorches@post-trib.com.