Sex scandal may end the SLC/Northwestern matchup (merged)

[Emerson1]

http://texashsfootball.com/board/index.php?automodule=blog&blogid=14&showentry=150

That would be incredibly stupid on his part. That is basically just throwing away the entire program altogether since every player would move away.

[burnet44]

Northwestern High football may face suspension
By TANIA deLUZURIAGA
tdeluzuriaga@MiamiHerald.com

DONNA NATALE PLANAS/MIAMI HERALD STAFF

Housed in a building that's barely a decade old, Liberty City's Northwestern High has had more than its share of ups and downs over the years.

Liberty City school's pride intact amid adversity
Superintendent Rudy Crew is considering a one-year suspension of the football program at Northwestern Senior High School in the wake of a scathing grand jury report of a sex scandal involving a football player and a 14-year-old girl.

The school district has gone as far as consulting the Florida High School Athletic Association to clarify rules and find out about transfer options for Northwestern football players.

If Crew opts to suspend the season for the Bulls, it will be the first time in Florida that a superintendent has done so, FHSAA Commissioner John Stewart said.

''It hasn't happened like this, per se,'' he said Monday. ``But there hasn't been anything as egregious as this either.''

Crew started quietly meeting with community leaders nearly two weeks ago to test the waters, outlining a host of ideas that deal with academic and personnel changes. But it's the possible suspension of the football program, the cornerstone of the school's athletic program and the pride of the Liberty City community, that has people talking.

''For him to go forward with it is ill-advised,'' said Larry Williams, the president of the Northwestern Alumni Association, who met with Crew in a private meeting last month where the superintendent said he was considering the idea.

Crew is expected to announce his decisions on changes at the school Wednesday. He was out sick Monday, but District Spokesman Felipe Noguera stressed that nothing is set in stone.

''He's not made any decisions yet,'' District Spokesman Felipe Noguera said. ``When he does, he'll announce it.''

[sahen]

suspend a whole football season cause of one kid?? talk about ridiculous....

[burnet44]

Liberty City school's pride intact amid adversity
Northwestern's legacy as Miami-Dade's only surviving black high school is both a blessing and a curse.

BY TANIA deLUZURIAGA
tdeluzuriaga@MiamiHerald.com

DONNA NATALE PLANAS/MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Housed in a building that's barely a decade old, Liberty City's Northwestern High has had more than its share of ups and downs over the years.

For those who only know Miami Northwestern Senior High through the news, the school's identity might be limited to football championships, violent episodes, academic failure and, now, a scathing grand jury report of a sex scandal involving a football player and a 14-year-old girl.

But ask anyone dressed in the Bulls' signature gold and royal blue, and they'll tell you it's a school that has served as a beacon of hope for the black community for more than 50 years, a place where kids beat the odds every day and stars are born in politics, business, law and sports.

Northwestern boasts community support that most public schools can only dream of attaining. Parents send their kids to their alma mater even if the family no longer lives in Liberty City, alumni stay involved for decades, and record-breaking crowds attend football games.

''I think it's a tradition thing,'' said Wayne Jones, a second-generation Bull who graduated in 1999. ``It's hard to explain . . . It's like air. You know it's there.''

Its history as Miami-Dade's oldest continuously run black high school has left a legacy that can be both a blessing and a curse.

''The community watches it, nurtures it, and, in many cases, they protect it,'' said Steve Gallon, a former Northwestern principal and alumnus, who now oversees Miami-Dade's alternative education programs.

That culture of protection resulted in the grand jury indicting former principal Dwight Bernard last month for official misconduct, charging that he failed to report a sexual incident in a school restroom between Antwain Easterling, Northwestern's then-18-year-old star running back and a 14-year-old female student last year.

RULES BENT

Under School Board rules, Easterling should have been suspended for at least 10 days, but instead he was allowed to play in the state title game just days after his arrest. Easterling later entered a pretrial diversion program that will keep his record clean.

Bernard's attorney, Michelle Delancy, has called the principal ''a convenient scapegoat'' and says the school's culture led other school staff to keep the incident from Bernard and authorities.

''It was a gang mentality,'' she said, noting that while Bernard had been at the school for three months before the incident occurred, his duties as principal had kept him off campus many days. ``They had a culture of their own, of which Dr. Bernard was not a part.''

At a June Miami-Dade School Board meeting, Superintendent Rudy Crew vowed to ``address the culture . . . which would allow so many to appear to have acted in such an irresponsible manner.''

The district under Crew's stewardship may have contributed to that culture, too.

CREW APPROVED

The grand jury found that the school district meddled in the school's police investigation and that Crew, along with school district attorneys, approved of allowing Easterling to play, despite knowledge of the arrest.

The failures go beyond football. Since Crew's arrival in 2004, the school has had six principals and about a dozen assistant principals. Standardized test scores have remained stagnant with only 9 percent of students reading at grade level, and fewer than half the students finished high school in four years.

''Everyone wants to see drastic change,'' said Laurence Axtell, who teaches social studies and was named teacher of the year in 2006. ``What we need is sustainable, committed change. You can't do that with six principals.''

ANOTHER PRINCIPAL

Crew is expected to name yet another principal before classes resume in August. The school's bedrocks have been Athletic Director Gregory Killings, who resigned Friday after 23 years at Northwestern, and veteran football coach Roland Smith, who has been there 13 years.

''They kept the roots going as principals came and went,'' said Geneva Woodard, who oversees the School Improvement Zone, a conglomeration of 39 academically challenged schools that include Northwestern.

The situation is a no-win for Crew, who faces criticism from the school board if members think his actions aren't strong enough and outcry from the black community if they believe he's too harsh.

''We don't care who it is, we want to hold people accountable,'' said Cleveland Morley, a 1968 graduate and member of the Northwestern Alumni Association. ``It's not just a high school, it's a community school.''

SUCCESS STORIES

Those who love Northwestern are quick to note the academic successes at the school, to name notable alumni -- like state Sen. Frederica Wilson and Barrington Irving, who in June became the first black and youngest person ever to fly solo around the world -- and say that football and athletics don't define the school.

Yet it's Northwestern football that enjoys a popularity in the community that most associate with only the best college and professional teams. A crowd of 6,000 fans showed up for a practice game in May; a documentary about the team debuted in 2005; the school has a full merchandising line. And this fall the Florida state champion Bulls will travel to Texas to play a televised game.

''Football gets attention,'' said Louie Bean, who taught science and coached track at the school for nearly 20 years. ``It's kind of like . . . Paris Hilton. They're already out there in the spotlight, so when something goes wrong, it's easy to poke holes.''

TIE THAT BINDS

Football has always been popular at Northwestern -- the only alma mater for many graduates. While alumni have few ties to the new, sterile building that opened in 1997 at 1100 NW 71st St., nostalgia can be recaptured at football games.

''That's where the majority of the community was,'' said Johnnie Perry Batist, who taught at the school for 40 years before retiring in 2003.

The football team's rising profile coincided with a black middle class moving to other neighborhoods and attempts at integration at the school in the 1970s. While magnet programs were created to attract new students to the school, little was done to serve the students still there.

''It wasn't enough about those we were supposed to be serving,'' Batist said. ``Those children have suffered.''

The McDuffie riots and the crack-cocaine epidemic of the 1980s drove out those who could afford to leave. Promises of rebuilding and revitalization were never fulfilled.

''When I was in school, you'd see the principal, you'd see your teachers, they lived in the community,'' Williams said. ``Our young people today don't see enough black professionals.''

While Crew travels around the country making speeches about turning ''supply'' parents (those who simply supply children to schools) into ''demand parents'' (those who expect great things of their schools), his rhetoric has not trickled down to urban schools like Northwestern.

Parents jaded by institutional racism, historical neglect and corruption by elected leaders are reluctant to speak out.

''Rudy Crew is trying to solve a problem that's generational,'' Axtell said. ``He's trying to do in three years what the school board refused to do for 30 years.''

[Emerson1]

Originally posted by sahen
suspend a whole football season cause of one kid?? talk about ridiculous....
I know. Does that guy not know how much money the school will lose not getting football revenue?

[olddawggreen]

SLC vs MNW? Maybe Not

Northwestern High football may face suspension
By TANIA deLUZURIAGA
tdeluzuriaga@MiamiHerald.com

DONNA NATALE PLANAS/MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Housed in a building that's barely a decade old, Liberty City's Northwestern High has had more than its share of ups and downs over the years.
Liberty City school's pride intact amid adversity
Superintendent Rudy Crew is considering a one-year suspension of the football program at Northwestern Senior High School in the wake of a scathing grand jury report of a sex scandal involving a football player and a 14-year-old girl.

The school district has gone as far as consulting the Florida High School Athletic Association to clarify rules and find out about transfer options for Northwestern football players.

If Crew opts to suspend the season for the Bulls, it will be the first time in Florida that a superintendent has done so, FHSAA Commissioner John Stewart said.

''It hasn't happened like this, per se,'' he said Monday. ``But there hasn't been anything as egregious as this either.''

Crew started quietly meeting with community leaders nearly two weeks ago to test the waters, outlining a host of ideas that deal with academic and personnel changes. But it's the possible suspension of the football program, the cornerstone of the school's athletic program and the pride of the Liberty City community, that has people talking.

''For him to go forward with it is ill-advised,'' said Larry Williams, the president of the Northwestern Alumni Association, who met with Crew in a private meeting last month where the superintendent said he was considering the idea.

Crew is expected to announce his decisions on changes at the school Wednesday. He was out sick Monday, but District Spokesman Felipe Noguera stressed that nothing is set in stone.

''He's not made any decisions yet,'' District Spokesman Felipe Noguera said. ``When he does, he'll announce it.''

http://www.miamiherald.com/457/story/164522.html

[Fal44]

que?

[KTA]

**** *** *** ****

[smustangs]

Originally posted by Emerson1
I know. Does that guy not know how much money the school will lose not getting football revenue?

and talent in other sports

[olddawggreen]

Sorry bout that.

[KTA]

well that makes my last post look dumb now lol

[LH Panther Mom]

:crazy1: :crazy: :crazy1: :dispntd: Wow!

[DDBooger]

has anyone seen the video of these guys! attitude reflects leadership, the coaches were fighting the players and cussing at em, now not the usual coach words but words like f-bombs etc. nothing conducive to young athletes.

[LH Panther Mom]

Originally posted by sahen
suspend a whole football season cause of one kid?? talk about ridiculous.... That was my initial thought until I read "the rest of the story". The school let the kid play in the state title game WITHOUT serving his 10-day suspension.

[DDBooger]

Originally posted by LH Panther Mom
That was my initial thought until I read "the rest of the story". The school let the kid play in the state title game WITHOUT serving his 10-day suspension. is it any surprise? if you saw the coaches you'd see how that was certainly expected lol. i don't know, perhaps these boys need a dominating male figure, but wow.

[LH Panther Mom]

Originally posted by DDBooger
is it any surprise? if you saw the coaches you'd see how that was certainly expected lol. i don't know, perhaps these boys need a dominating male figure, but wow.
Do you have a link to the video you could pm me? (Sounds like it shouldn't be on here. :eek: )

[DDBooger]

sent, anyone else?

[mustang59]

Did they have to let him play because he hadn't been convicted yet? I'm not defending the decision, just wondering what procedures the school had to go through.

[Emerson1]

Is this the same school that theMTV followed around for awhile. They were highlighting some DE that was supposed to be the next big thing. He went to Miami and dropped out eventually I think. It was just 1 or 2 years ago.

[sahen]

Originally posted by LH Panther Mom
That was my initial thought until I read "the rest of the story". The school let the kid play in the state title game WITHOUT serving his 10-day suspension.

then they should fire the coaches and hire new ones...they shouldnt punish the kids on the football team for that....

[g$$]

I am not there, & neither are any of you. This problem pervades the whole school & culture so it sounds. Football is a great sport & I love it, but it should not override the other problems at the school. Most of these kids cannot read at grade level. There lies the bigger issue. Let's be realistic here. What is the #1 purpose of any school? This Supt. may have bitten off more than he can chew with that community. But to take a stand is commendable, even at the risk of a year of football.

I do feel for the current kids though. They may be punished for past transgressions. Academics should be 1st, then athletics is a privilege. In that order...right?

[charlesrixey]

what?

Freshmen sleeping with seniors?

:confused:

never happens!

[olddawggreen]

Originally posted by sahen
then they should fire the coaches and hire new ones...they shouldnt punish the kids on the football team for that....

I'm not sure, but I think coaching positions are structured differently in Florida than they are in Texas. I know the Head Coaches salaries are not as high;

Coach: Roland Smith
School: Miami Northwestern
County: Dade
Base salary: $49,380
Football supplement: $3,000
Other supplement: $0
Total salary: $52,380

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/highschools/content/sports/epaper/2006/10/31/a1c_highschoolcoaches_1031.html

[Pudlugger]

Originally posted by g$$
I am not there, & neither are any of you. This problem pervades the whole school & culture so it sounds. Football is a great sport & I love it, but it should not override the other problems at the school. Most of these kids cannot read at grade level. There lies the bigger issue. Let's be realistic here. What is the #1 purpose of any school? This Supt. may have bitten off more than he can chew with that community. But to take a stand is commendable, even at the risk of a year of football.

I do feel for the current kids though. They may be punished for past transgressions. Academics should be 1st, then athletics is a privilege. In that order...right?

Reminds me of that Samuel L. Jackson basketball movie, the name escapes me, but he had to deal with a similar "culture" problem and he bascically kicked everyone off the team until they cleaned up their act. The community opposed him but he proved to be right and the kids benefited tremendously from his "tough love". He was a scary dude too.:)

oh yeah, it was "Coach Carter". Rent it if you haven't seen it.

[burnet44]

Coach Carter

[Ranger Mom]

Originally posted by charlesrixey
what?

Freshmen sleeping with seniors?

:confused:

never happens!

I may have missed this....but is this considered a "sexual assault" case....or is it "statutory rape" since she was so young??

I am not saying it was right...but there are 14 y/o sluts everywhere.........AND like you put it....Seniors that date freshman!!

[olddawggreen]

This may be more than you want to read, but this is the official Grand Jury report on what happened;

http://www.miamisao.com/publications/grand_jury/2000s/gy2006f.pdf

[Emerson1]

Atleast read "II. The Incedents"

[Gobbla2001]

one of my closest friends moved away and attended this school... we talk atleast once a week on the phone to catch up with old times... I am offended by everyone's comments here please close this thread

[g$$]

Originally posted by Gobbla2001
one of my closest friends moved away and attended this school... we talk atleast once a week on the phone to catch up with old times... I am offended by everyone's comments here please close this thread

No one is blaming your friend. Problems can happen anywhere. This is nothing more than a discussion of things gone bad & what to do about it.

[Emerson1]

I wish HP would man up and play SLC.

[Gobbla2001]

Originally posted by g$$
No one is blaming your friend. Problems can happen anywhere. This is nothing more than a discussion of things gone bad & what to do about it.

doesn't matter, I'm offended, he was involved greatly in that program, along with his sister who is a cheerleader there... she's kinda like my sister in a way though we're obviously different colors...

I don't know how not to click and read on this thread, I keep clicking on it, and keep getting offended, so it should be closed because y'all don't know what you're talking about...

[Emerson1]

He shouldn't of gone to such a ghetto school.

[Gobbla2001]

Originally posted by Ranger Mom
I may have missed this....but is this considered a "sexual assault" case....or is it "statutory rape" since she was so young??

I am not saying it was right...but there are 14 y/o sluts everywhere.........AND like you put it....Seniors that date freshman!!

stop the speculation, I'm offended

[Gobbla2001]

Originally posted by Emerson1
He shouldn't of gone to such a ghetto school.

this type of stuff doesn't happen in just ghetto schools... you get it everywhere... even in Sinton, but you may have forgotten that thread was closed :p

[Emerson1]

Never happened here.

[Gobbla2001]

Originally posted by Emerson1
Never happened here.

good for you guys, here either...

[Gobbla2001]

seriously I know no one who ever attended that school...

I did see the documentary on that defensive end, those coaches are a joke...

[Emerson1]

Originally posted by Gobbla2001
seriously I know no one who ever attended that school...

I did see the documentary on that defensive end, those coaches are a joke...
Yep, not surprised when he chose to go to Miami. That is why they have players always getting arrested.

[maroogreen]

WOW! First of all, that grand jury report reads like an article in the National Enquirer. Secondly, the counselor appears to have been the first point of contact that the girl made and, in Texas at least, the counselor committed a felony by not reporting the crime.

Third, it is painfully obvious that freshman had NO SELF ESTEEM. But having taught numerous elective classes that included senior athlete males and freshmen girls who can't stop giggling, I know it happens more than parents would like to know--although probably not on the floor of the school restroom. Eeeeww!

Finally, if the school only has nine percent of its population reading on grade level and graduates less that half of its seniors each year, it has bigger problems than this. In Texas, that gets you an academically unacceptable rating AND gets you shut down. Ask the people from Wilmer-Hutchins (SP?). I don't think their academic stats were anything close to being that bad.

[maroogreen]

[sorry--I double posted.]