Edited October 11, 2021 with details regarding the CUSD CIF Appeal. Update at bottom.
On Tuesday morning, July 6, the CUSD School Board held a special meeting via Zoom for a closed session with legal counsel regarding the recent decision by CIF to strip the Coronado High School (CHS) boys’ basketball team of its CIF Div. 4-A Regional Championship and impose sanctions against basketball, other athletic programs, administrators, athletic director(s), coaches, and student-athletes at CHS.
Prior to the closed session, during Comments from the Audience, the first speaker, Gerri Machin, identified herself as a representative of the group “We the Parents Coronado” and read a list of items the group was requesting of the board. Those requests included appealing the CIF decision, publicly providing names of the tortilla throwing perpetrators, providing written definitions of the “Orwellian terms” racist, classist, and colorist, and explaining how teaching identity-based activism will not affect K-12 students. The group also invited the the board to issue a public apology for their “impulsive and wholly unwarranted public statements slandering” the CHS basketball athletes, the school, and the entire community. Additional public comments were similar. The board voted unanimously to to start litigation and appeal CIF’s decision to strip the championship title from the team.
The public Comments from the Audience portion of Tuesday’s meeting can be watched here:
The following day, Wednesday, July 7, Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey held a news conference with the purpose of addressing the process by which the CUSD board handled the aftermath of the basketball game between Coronado High School and Orange Glen High School on June 19. Members of We the Parents Coronado were in attendance to stand behind his message.
RELATED: Tortilla-Throwing Overshadows Coronado High School Basketball Championship Win, CIF Investigates
Bailey said there was a “rush to judgement” by multiple parties: the Coronado School Board, local public officials around the region, and also CIF.
Reiterating that “the truth matters,” he said that a thorough and comprehensive investigation should take place before anyone is held accountable for their actions, and that the CUSD board’s statement, issued less than a day after the game, which said that the perpetrators’ actions were fueled by “racism, classism, and colorism” was premature and without any evidence. Bailey went on to say that that statement created a “false narrative” that unfairly characterized the basketball team and the entire community.
He said that the board should take responsibility for their actions and their words and apologize for unfounded accusations.
KUSI News shared this video:
For more background on the tortilla throwing after the CIF Div. 4-A Regional basketball game, all related articles can be found here.
UPDATE OCTOBER 11, 2021:
In the October 8 CUSD Newsletter, Superintendent Mueller shared:
“We have an update in the CIF Appeal (for sanctions related to the June 19 Men’s Basketball Championship) process. The CUSD third-party investigation has been finalized but it is in the possession of our attorney and will not be released until after the appeal process is completed. Our legal team and district representatives were prepared to present our case to the CIF Executive Committee on Monday, September 27, however, a last minute introduction of evidence from CIF resulted in a postponement of the hearing until November 1. We have confirmation from CIF that no sanctions will be imposed against CUSD throughout the appeal process.”
