What we know and don’t know about how Rootstown handled the racism incident
School leaders did not provide the cost of the private investigation, citing attorney-client privilege.
Carter Eugene Adams and Michael Indriolo
Rootstown public school leaders are not providing details about the cost and scope of an investigation into the district’s handling of racism on the high school football team, and they declined to answer questions about events that led two school board members and two football coaches to resign.
In a series of Board of Education meetings, in protests outside the school and in online discussion groups, members of the Rootstown community have demanded accountability from the school district leadership. And they have asked many of the same questions that we sent to Board President Amanda Waesch and Superintendent Andrew Hawkins.
We asked questions related to:
- The scope, cost and timeline of the third-party investigation being conducted by SACS Consulting and Investigative Services, based in Akron.
- Details about the initial response to the racist incidents and school leadership’s involvement in the aborted disciplinary measures.
- Whether the student or his parents have connections to school leadership that would create conflicts of interest.
Hawkins did not answer any of the questions, apart from providing a document responsive to a public records request. The board contracted SACS through the district’s legal counsel, the Cleveland-based firm Peters Kalail & Markakis.
“An independent investigator has been designated to conduct an investigation concerning this matter, and we are not at liberty to discuss the pending investigation,” Hawkins wrote. “Indeed, all aspects of the investigation are being handled through the law firm and are subject to attorney-client privilege. As such, I am not able to respond to your questions at this time.”
SACS President Tim Dimoff told The Portager last month that because of the number of interviews necessary, he had only provided a ballpark estimate of the cost. No one would provide that estimate.
The entire controversy stems from one student’s use of racial slurs during the football team’s summer practices. After three offenses, Head Coach Troy Spiker, Athletic Director Keith Waesch, High School Principal James Conley and Hawkins agreed to remove the player from the team on the Thursday before its Sept. 4 game.
Board Member Steven Vasbinder immediately began working to overturn that decision. Vasbinder approached Conley during that Friday’s home game, saying Spiker should resign and the student should be back on the team.
It is not clear what motivated Vasbinder, though others, including Board Member Tom Siciliano, appear to have been involved. At a recent board meeting, Siciliano told angry community members, “I do not regret my decision.”
At Hawkins’ insistence, the student was back on the team by Monday, and Spiker announced his resignation the following Wednesday.
In a charged Board of Education meeting on Sept. 14, the board accepted the resignations of Spiker and Assistant Coach Tom Wilson. An unusually large crowd in the high school cafeteria took turns at the microphone criticizing Hawkins and the board and suggesting the wrong people had resigned. But less than one week later, Vasbinder and Board Member Scott Kreiger did just that.
In addition to hiring a private investigation, the board has begun a two-part series of community meetings in partnership with the Portage County NAACP, though attendance has paled in comparison to the board meetings.
The next meeting is 3:30 p.m. Sunday, and it will be streamed via Facebook.
Following is a list of the questions we asked, and these are just some of the unanswered questions that may be the focus of the SACS investigation. (We have removed two questions that are based on speculative information.)
- When Coach Spiker initially informed you of his plan to remove the student from the football team, who else was aware of this?
- What was the reaction of those people? Was everyone in favor of that disciplinary action? If not, who was opposed and why?
- Who initiated discussions about reversing the decision and why?
- Why did you ultimately decide to reverse the punishment after initially signing on to Coach Spiker’s decision?
- Could you describe Mr. Waesch’s involvement?
- It seems unusual that several board members seem to have been involved in this. Why was this situation escalated beyond just the coach, the athletic director and the student’s parents?
- Why weren’t all the board members involved in this instead of just a few? And is that considered a violation of open meetings laws or board bylaws?
- Do you or any members of the board or district leadership have a personal relationship with the student’s parents, and could you characterize those relationships?
- Did anyone involved in reversing Coach Spiker’s disciplinary action recuse themselves at a certain point in the process because of potential conflicts of interest?
- Will the student be required to complete any kind of sensitivity training or anything in lieu of removal from the team?
- Why was SACS Investigative & Consulting Services chosen to conduct this investigation?
- What is their hourly rate?
- Has the board approved an hourly rate for the investigator or a maximum amount it would approve?
- How will the investigation be paid for?
- What is the proposed timeframe for the investigation? How long do you anticipate it will take?
- What is the anticipated cost of the investigation? In other words, what is the quote they gave you or the ballpark cost they provided?
- What are the main objectives or questions they will be focusing on?
- Will students — specifically football team members — be questioned by the investigator? If so, have the parents of those students given their consent, or be present during any questioning?
- Who will they interview and what records will they request for the investigation?
- Will teachers of the student who was originally removed from the team be questioned about him and will they be directed to cooperate?
- Given how this event has unfolded, how much confidence should the community have in your transparency regarding the results of the investigation?
- Is there anything else you’d like to add about the events and the way the situation was handled?
Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelled Tim Dimoff’s last name.
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