An Ohio school district has fired a high school football coach and 6 assistant coaches for making a Black Hebrew Israelite player eat a pepperoni pizza, in contravention of his religious beliefs, because he missed a practice, ABC News reported on Friday, June 4, 2021. Read story here.
A lawyer for the student’s family, who “likely” will sue the school district, said the missed practice was optional and he skipped it because he was injured. A lawyer for the head coach says the school district rushed to judgment, and denies the student was coerced into eating the pizza, but conceded his client was trying to teach him “a lesson.”
The school district said through a spokesperson the incident was recorded on surveillance video, and its investigation “found that the identified coaches engaged in actions that constituted inappropriate, demeaning, and divisive behavior in a misguided attempt to instill discipline in the student-athletes.”
The district also filed a police report against the coaches (I’m assuming because of a mandatory reporting law).
In a situation like this, it’s important to get the facts right. The coaches claim no one even talked to them. But there may be enough undisputed facts to justify their dismissal. Or not renewing their contracts may be within the district’s discretion, no reason required. Coaches get fired for losing too many games, so I suppose a school board can fire them for their coaching methods, too.
It may take a pair of lawsuits to sort things out, with the school district caught in the middle and potentially paying money to both sides of the dispute.