Extra, Extra - Another Day, Another Issue at Garfield

From the Seattle Times:

One of Seattle’s flagship high schools is under investigation for possible football recruiting violations tied to a youth from Texas, who says he was flown north to Garfield High with promises of athletic opportunity.

Will Sanders, 19, spent last fall’s football season as a running back for the Bulldogs, where he was the third-leading rusher — even though poor grades would have made him ineligible to play the entire time. While here, he bounced between the residences of a track coach and team parents. 

Meanwhile, the team racked up its best season in years.

Well, echoes of Hale because they,too, had their best basketball season ever with imported players.

Who's involved?


- Sanders said he originally came north after talking with the school’s football coach, Joey Thomas, who discussed a glowing athletic future that would await him in Seattle.

If that account is accurate, Thomas would have violated rules set by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) that prohibit promoting a school’s athletic program to attract particular students.

- The man who originally saw Sanders’ video was John McKinney, father of former Garfield football standout Cameron McKinney — another youth from Beaumont who found success at Garfield and earned an athletic scholarship to the University of North Dakota after playing one season with the Bulldogs.

McKinney connected the boys with Garfield’s coach, Sanders said. 

McKinney said he then paid for their tickets to Seattle, listing himself as “guardian” on Sanders’ school-district paperwork. He maintains that he was simply reaching back to give the youths the same kind of life-changing second chance his son had received.

I'd think that putting down "guardian" when you are more of, say, a facilitator in a student's life would also be against some kind of rules.

- The two boys arrived in Seattle in early September. Within days, Garfield’s then-Athletic Director Ed Haskins temporarily authorized Sanders to join the football team despite poor grades from Texas that would have made him ineligible.

- The following month, school records show, Garfield Principal Ted Howard approved Sanders’ status as a homeless youth, which is considered a hardship and can allow students to play despite poor grades. 

Rules governing the WIAA say students listed as homeless are supposed to be reviewed by a district-level committee to ensure the legitimacy of that status. But no such hearing took place in Sanders’ case, said Sam Jackson Jr., who oversees player eligibility in the Sea-King district.

“Absolutely there should have been one,” he said. “I’ve been doing this seven years, and that’s unusual at best — extremely unusual.”

- Other than McKinney, the adult most closely associated with Sanders’ time at Garfield is Mike Nall, father of this year’s Bulldogs’ quarterback, who says he housed Sanders and eventually bought plane tickets for both youths to go back to Texas.

“They didn’t act right,” Nall said, pointing out that the boys rarely attended class. “The only story here is about how these kids screwed up a great opportunity.”

I'm not sure if Mr. Nall is talking about a great academic opportunity or athletic opportunity.

What are the two saddest parts of this story?

One:

After the holidays, undeterred by the chilly reception Sanders and his buddy say they were receiving from Thomas, the youths raised the money for return tickets on their own — neither would explain how — arriving back in Seattle last month. They phoned Garfield track coach Kwajalein Griffin, who helped enroll both at Seattle’s Interagency Academy, an alternative school.

Interagency staff have floated the idea of the youths starting next fall at Rainier Beach High, which has a well-regarded athletic program.

But Sanders appears worn out from using his talents on the field. A few weeks ago, he asked a counselor at Interagency: “What if I don’t want to do sports?”

It would appear that Sanders actually does want an education and yet the district wants to find him another sports placement.

Two:
That year after year, scandal after scandal, Principal Howard never has to account for any of his actions or how he leads Garfield.   This time will be no different because the district continues to look the other way.