CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Let me get this straight, because I’m having problems fathoming the idea.
At least two Charlotte Olympic High women’s volleyball players had to serve a one-game suspension for protesting sexual violence at their own school? Seriously?
This was tone deaf, wrongheaded and mishandled.
In the era of #MeToo, it’s also almost inconceivable. But conceive it we must, because it happened. The volleyball players participated in a student-led walkout at Olympic High School on Friday and so they weren’t allowed to play in their game Tuesday.
On the other hand, an Olympic football player who has been criminally charged with a sexual felony was allowed to play in at least one game — with a court-ordered ankle bracelet bulging out from under his uniform.
In an email obtained by The Charlotte Observer, Olympic high school athletic director Stephanie Wilkerson explained the school’s position to a disgruntled parent of one of the suspended volleyball players.
Wilkerson said in the email that a “school-approved protest in the gymnasium” that preceded the walkout on Friday was fine to participate in, but the walk-out itself merited punishment because it “compromised the safety of the students and staff and impacted the entire instructional day.”
Our own reporter who witnessed the multi-hour protest Friday outside Olympic High — a school of roughly 2,500 students in southwest Charlotte — said it was largely peaceful. No one was arrested. There was no violence, unless you count the one student who was led away from the protest in handcuffs by a police officer after she was accused of throwing an earring at Olympic’s principal.
Yet Wilkerson wrote in her email to the parent: “I can assure you, the events that happened after the school-approved protest were not peaceful or civil in nature.”
Thus, the suspensions. And other than that, it’s mostly been radio silence from Olympic’s principal Casey Jones, AD Wilkerson, head football coach Brandon Thompson, Charlotte-Mecklenburg School officials and almost everyone else who’s in charge of protecting and supporting a group of students who understandably feel unsafe. (Thompson declined to comment Wednesday, referring me to Wilkerson, who also couldn’t be immediately reached).
No wonder several hundred Olympic students felt unheard and decided to walk out of school last week.
“Honestly, I’m just disgusted that they let a football player who has sexual assault allegations against him play with an ankle monitor,” a suspended Olympic High volleyball player told The Observer earlier this week. She preferred to remain anonymous for fear of retribution. “But because I speak out for feeling unsafe, I get punished and not allowed to play in a game.”
There have been two incidents at Olympic, and these have followed a recent controversy at Myers Park High that resulted in an investigation and the suspension of principal Mark Bosco and should have provided a case study on how not to handle reports of sexual assault and harassment — but obviously didn’t.
The 16-year-old football player, whose name has not been released by the district or police, was charged with a felony sex offense that occurred off campus. Yet he played in at least one game — and that wasn’t against N.C. high school rules since he hasn’t been convicted.
I understand due process, but c’mon. This wasn’t jaywalking. Friday night lights are about fourth downs and big crowds, not about ankle bracelets.
If this had happened in the NFL instead of in high school, there would be no way that player played in another game until when and if he was exonerated.
Can you imagine the uproar if an NFL player was playing with a court-ordered ankle monitor right now after being accused of a sexual felony? The close-up shots of the monitor? The talk-show debates? (Former Carolina Panther Greg Hardy was paid $13.1 million by the Panthers in 2014 and yet played in only one game while awaiting a jury trial in a domestic violence case, for instance — and that was before the NFL became more stringent on the subject of violence against women).
In a separate incident earlier this month, a 15-year-old boy was accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl. This alleged assault occurred on Olympic’s campus. The suspect was charged with attempted second-degree rape, second-degree kidnapping and sexual battery.
Look, I know that coaches and athletic directors and principals have difficult jobs. I’ve been a volunteer high school head coach for 10 years and certainly have made my share of mistakes. I’ve sent four kids through school in the Charlotte area and not agreed with what the administrators did in every situation. I know that high school parents can sometimes act like helicopters, hovering around and waiting for those in charge to make a mistake.
But this one should have been easy.
The female students who protested?
Give them some grace, not a suspension.
Obviously, you can’t stage a walkout in high school every day.
But walking out one time, with no significant violence or property damage involved, after two of your male students have been charged with felonies?
That’s reasonable. The school-sponsored protest wasn’t enough, which makes sense because if you are a teenager, are you really going to think any school-sponsored protest is enough?
Olympic should have simply let the students walk out, on that day, without more consequences. Then, keep the students safe during that protest. Have security on hand. If there’s trouble, have the police get involved. But otherwise, stand back and let the students be heard.
Instead, Olympic suspended at least two female students from a volleyball game when they are protesting alleged sexual violence perpetrated by males at their own school. That’s utterly ridiculous. It sounds like a headline from the “Weekend Update” segment on Saturday Night Live, and it could well be at some point. Olympic only succeeded in making a bad situation worse.
Now it’s time for Olympic to start climbing out of the hole by apologizing to the volleyball players involved (as well as any other students suspended for participating in the protest). And then let’s all try to concentrate on what’s important here: Safety. Respect. And justice.
