By Greg Grisolano
Globe Staff Writer
SENECA, Mo. —
An attorney for the Seneca School District said all options remain on the table in determining the fate of the head coach of the high school football team and his staff after a hazing incident last month.
Tom Mickes, a St. Louis attorney who represents the district, said Tuesday night that if the school board did decide to take any action, it would issue a release within 72 hours, as provided under state law.
“No decision has been made yet,” Mickes said during a recess the board took after interviewing the coaches behind closed doors. “(The board) just talked to the coaches. They wanted to hear what the coaches had to say.”
When asked if the board would consider disciplining or firing the coaches, Mickes said, “All options are on the table.”
He said the coaches apparently told the board that they were participating in football camp events when the hazing incident took place in a dorm during the program at Pittsburg (Kan.) State University.
Head football coach Robert Townsend and members of his coaching staff entered the closed-door meeting at 6:46 p.m. They emerged at 7:25 p.m., and the board took a 10-minute recess.
No comment
Townsend declined to comment before the meeting, and he and his staff left immediately after without speaking to reporters.
About 10 Seneca residents waited outside the closed doors with Townsend and his staff members when the meeting began.
All 10 people declined to comment, but the group as a whole stood and prayed with Townsend and his staff before the closed meeting began.
Tosha Fox, Seneca High School principal, also prayed with the group before entering the meeting.
The board spent about an hour of the closed meeting listening to comments from people who attended in support of the coaches.
A woman who declined to be interviewed dropped off letters before the meeting began that she said she had written in support of the coaching staff.
The board previously heard from parents of some of the victims.
The mother of one of the football players who was injured in the hazing told the Globe last week that she wanted more answers from school officials and coaches.
“Where were the coaches for this?” she said she wanted to ask. “What were they doing?”
Joe Caputo, school board president, declined to comment before Tuesday’s meeting, but he did say that he expects the board to issue a statement “within 72 hours” of the meeting.
Superintendent Rick Cook also declined to comment before the meeting, saying he was instructed not to comment by the district’s attorney.
Background
At least 50 members of the Seneca football team went to the summer football camp in early June at PSU. The students stayed in a dormitory, with an undisclosed number of Seneca football coaches serving as chaperones.
According to a police report, upperclassmen used plastic window blind rods to strike 17 underclassmen. Some team members also allegedly placed their genitals on the faces of younger players.
The Crawford County, Kan., prosecuting attorney’s office has charged eight Seneca players with multiple felony counts of aggravated battery and misdemeanor battery. Three other players face one count each of misdemeanor battery. At least one player is 18 and faces charges as an adult. Legal proceedings for the others will start in juvenile court, where a decision will be made whether to charge them as adults, per Kansas law.
No charges were filed against members of Seneca’s coaching staff.
Previous statement
In a statement issued July 16, Caputo, the school board president, said 12 players had been suspended or expelled. Student punishments were handed out by the district July 1. At least nine parents requested hearings before the board to appeal the decisions.
The statement said district officials had been investigating whether members of the coaching staff “failed in their supervisory duties,” and that anyone found to have made any violations would be “disciplined accordingly.”
Player discipline
Along with the suspensions, five of the Seneca players were removed from participating in any athletics for 365 days. Four more were removed from the 2010-11 football team, according to a statement issued by the school board.
