Bob Cook, Contributor Forbes | http://onforb.es/wHqOFs
2/06/2012 @ 4:18PM :: At 7:30 a.m. today (Feb. 6), a group of parents marched outside of Kennedy High School in Granada Hills, Calif., to show their displeasure with the three-week suspension of baseball coach Manny Alvarado, who is being sent home a second time over an alleged hazing incident. It’s not that the parents are pro-hazing. It’s that they’re smelling a rat in the way Alvarado is being treated.
Alvarado has coached since 1988, winning five Los Angeles city championships and guiding such players as major-leaguers Garret Anderson and Jon Garland. However, Alvarado in November was put on administrative leave while an investigation took place regarding two students in his baseball class “engaged in a fighting ritual outside the school’s weight room, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The protesting parents (joined by players), who weren’t exactly on board with believing there was hazing going on, are ticked that Alvarado — who didn’t see the fight, but was in the weight room and was in charge of watching the students — is getting tossed out again after having paid his (unnecessary) penance already. Alvarado has denied any hazing took place, and he is appealing his latest suspension. From the Los Angeles Times (which has video of the protest):
[Baseball parent Cindy] Kuykendall said [Kennedy principal Suzanne] Blake told parents at a Dec.14 meeting that her investigation found prior hazing incidents in the baseball program. Blake punished the team by barring Kennedy from playing in two tournaments this spring, a loss of eight games, and required players and Alvarado to attend bullying-awareness classes. Alvarado was reinstated.
“We didn’t agree that there was hazing, but we accepted it,” Kuykendall said.
Alvarado and Kennedy players attended two classes on bullying last month. That was supposed to be the end of things. At least that was the impression parents and players were given. Then came word of Alvarado’s suspension.
“We’re not backing off any more,” Kuykendall said [Feb. 3].
The Times’ Eric Sondheimer writes that Alvarado “has been known for his integrity and old-school values,” which sometimes is code for “yells a lot and doesn’t exactly discourage players from pounding each other.” However, Sondheimer is catching the same whiff of rat stench the parents are inhaling. Alvarado has denied any hazing took place, and he is appealing his latest suspension.
The question is what is Blake and the Los Angeles Unified School District trying to do to Alvarado? Blake is a former middle school principal who was briefly principal at the new downtown arts high school until being replaced in 2010.
On [Feb. 3], the LAUSD communications department released a statement: “The District responded to concerns, investigated and took appropriate action to ensure the safety of students on the Kennedy campus. Coach Manny Alvarado remains the baseball coach at Kennedy. Any litigation or personnel matters concerning Alvarado are confidential and cannot be publicly discussed.”
Hazing and bullying are unacceptable activities in sports or anything else. Coaches and teams are warned before every season about the issue. But they continue to happen, and the consequences can be severe.
The problem at Kennedy is there’s a lack of trust on all sides. This could have been a valuable moment to teach. Instead, it is rapidly deteriorating into a nasty tit for tat. The principal appears to have lost control and credibility. The school is being divided, and Blake is about to find out what Alvarado and the baseball team mean to a proud community.
Blake should already know what happens when parents get riled up over administrative decisions. Blake herself was the beneficiary of parental protests against the school district sending her packing as principal of the aforementioned arts high school.
Baseball: Parents, players rally at Kennedy
Los Angeles Times (blog) -
Chanting, "Save our coach," players, parents and alumni from Granada Hills Kennedy held a rally in front of the campus Monday morning in support of longtime baseball Coach Manny Alvarado, who is facing a three-week suspension without pay following an ...
Kennedy High Students Rally Against Suspension of Star Baseball Coach Manny ...
LA Weekly (blog) -
By Simone Wilson Mon., Feb. 6 2012 at 1:15 PM Parents, students and star alumni gathered in front of Granada Hills Kennedy High this morning to protest the pending suspension of Manny Alvarado, the school's beloved (and wildly successful) baseball ...
Suspension of Manny Alvarado riles parents
Los Angeles Times -
Longtime and highly successful baseball coach at Granada Hills Kennedy High has been suspended for three weeks for his role in an alleged hazing incident and it's not sitting well with supporters of the program. By Eric Sondheimer Break out the ...
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