I wanted to take a moment to address the issues recently reported in The Lima News on Sunday, Jan. 31. The events — parental complaints that led to the article — were serious enough to require an investigation. This investigation was completed by a completely independent third party investigator who interviewed each coach, the team athletic trainer, a team doctor and roughly a dozen football players spanning grades 10 through 12. The conclusion of the investigation, as reported in the third party investigator’s summary comments, clearly indicated, “The complaints included in the three letters depict a very different program and culture than the patterns that emerged from the answers and comments given by coaches and the other eight players in response to issues centered on the allegations. The coaches, trainer and team doctor with whom I spoke consistently describe a program that has winning as a goal that is secondary to the welfare of the student athletes on the team.”
This unbiased third party investigation and subsequent summary report squarely addressed the complaint of two parents that the district received in December 2015. The Lima News reporter’s decision to chronicle allegations from as far back as 1995 – over 20 years ago – and from other schools was highly suspect, at best. The impartial investigation report was clearly unbiased, but the same certainly cannot be said about The Lima News article.
I want to confirm my support for our district’s process for dealing fairly and appropriately with parental complaints as well as for our current football coaching staff who will hopefully continue to put forth the necessary effort to help develop our children, not only as football players, but as people.
— Shawn Brown, superintendent of St Marys City Schools
