5-day suspension, playoff ban upheld for Lehigh HS players

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla.- The five-day school suspension and a playoff ban for a group of Lehigh Senior High School basketball players benched for a controversial video has been upheld, Lee County School District officials said.

Despite the suspensions, Lehigh beat Estero High School 61-53 Wednesday night to advance to the district final.

The teenagers were initially given a two-day suspension after a video of them rapping explicit lyrics in the school practice room after hours surfaced online. The punishment was then upgraded to five days and included being banned from team activities.

There was a “procedural error” in stating the two-day suspension, said district spokeswoman Amity Chandler, who added that the school principal renders a final decision once the investigation is completed.

“This decision often includes a more thorough disciplinary decision that can include additional days suspension or other sanctions,” she said in a statement.

Parents of the suspended players voiced their concerns to district officials Wednesday morning, hoping to have the decision overturned.

“We got in there and we were able to get a lot of things off our chest, right and wrong,” said Jarvis Martin Sr. “I feel like we got our point across and it won’t happen to any other kids.”

The issue is not that the students were punished, parents said, but that their punishment was severe in relation to their offense.

“This is the time when they have lots of scouts coming out to the games, and it’s not fair to the boys, for their future,” said parent Betty Silva. “They definitely need this opportunity so they can grow and become people in this world.”

Head basketball coach Dawn McNew was temporarily suspended from team duties due to the video. McNew “has an impeccable professional career and reputation and is well respected among her peers,” but the suspension was a necessary step given the number of athletes involved and the scope of the student discipline, Chandler said.

The district will also investigate McNew’s supervision practices, Chandler added.

McNew was named the Class 6A Coach of the Year in 2015 by the Florida Association of Basketball Coaches after she led the Lighting to a 27-2 record.

The video is something Russell Brown and many of the suspended players described as “having fun” and “just going with the flow.”

“We didn’t mean for it to go like that, the profanity we was using it was all bad, all bad,” said Brown, a sophomore. “But we regret it. But we kids, we gonna make mistakes all the time. I regret everything we did. I really do.”

Jarvis Martin Jr., described the incident as a learning experience.

“Trying to learn from it and become a bigger person,” Jarvis Martin Jr. said. “We wasn’t thinking about getting in trouble, we were just having fun but… not in a good way.”