Taylor Lavery, an up-and-coming basketball player for the Lake Central AAU program in recent years, is attending West Side High School in Gary as a freshman. But how Lavery, whose most recently known address was in Dyer, got there is still not clear.

"He's at our school," West Side coach John Boyd told The Times on Sept. 4. "He has an address in our community. He was an eighth-grader when he moved in."

Gary school spokeswoman Charmella Greer confirmed this week that Lavery was enrolled with a Gary address, so he is not paying tuition to attend West Side as an out-of-district student. A school source who asked not to be identified said the address on file with the district was 1346 Chase St.

A check of Gary properties and a visit to Chase Street, however, revealed a residence at that address doesn't exist.

After being told the address on file did not exist, Greer said, "If we find an erroneous address, it's handled internally and the parent will be sent a bill" for tuition.

Three phone calls placed between Sept. 4 and Thursday to Mike Lavery, Taylor's father, were not returned. On Thursday afternoon an unidentified woman answered the door at the Lavery address in Dyer and had little to say.

"The family isn't here right now," she said.

West Side Principal Diane Rouse said Tuesday she would not make any comments concerning Lavery.

Taylor Lavery's older brother, Evan Lavery, played at Munster High School for his freshman and sophomore years before the family moved south. Evan was a guard for Lake Central High School his final two high school seasons. Evan graduated in 2007.

Lake Central head basketball coach Dave Milausnic said he believes the family still lives in his school district and he said he knows Taylor attended Kahler Middle School last year.

"No comment," Milausnic said when asked how Lavery ended up at a Gary school.

When asked that same question on Sept. 4, Boyd said he would check into the specifics. He also said he would get a statement from Taylor Lavery on why he chose to attend West Side and would release it to the media.

But the following day, Boyd said Gary's district athletic director, Earl Smith, released a memo with the Gary School Board policy that said no Gary coach is allowed to speak to the media about controversial issues unless it goes through a downtown administrator first.

"I would say this is controversial," Smith said.

The day before citing Smith's memo, however, Boyd said Lavery would be the first white player in Cougars' history if he made Boyd's varsity team.

"This is about a white kid going to a black school," Boyd said.

Boyd said he was surprised the Lavery situation would become a hot topic, especially, he said, because Gary athletes have been moving to suburban schools for the past 15 years and few say much about it.

"If this kid steps out and becomes a heck of an athlete, and if this white kid is driving from Dyer to Gary to go to school, then I think it's a great story," Boyd said. "He must've wanted to come to West Side for a reason. He's breaking down stereotypes that have been going on around here for a very long time."

-- Times staff writer Carmen McCollum contributed to this report.