The
Spotlight “Nihil sacrum est”
"Please Stop" See page 4
October 2017
October 6, 2017
News
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"Please STOP" by Rachel Nobles
The Shocking Video
A community in crisis following a cheer team scandal. Principal, Athletic Director, and Cheer Coach depart.
meeting, he said, In a grainy cell phone video of “The school the June cheer camp practice, an leadership incoming East High School freshteam beman athlete repeatedly pleads, lieved that “Please, stop!” while she is pushed down into a full split by team coach they had addressed and Ozell Williams. Additional videos resolved the of that day’s practice show seven parents’ and more students forced into a full students’ split while crying or screaming, concerns. It is now clear that they each pushed down by their shoulders by Williams, while teammates had not.” About two months later, the hold down their arms. videos were submitted anonymousVideos of the controversial pracly to local television station tice sparked national outrage. 9News. Following Following the conclua 9News story sion of the subsepublished on quent Denver PubAug. 24, DPD lic Schools (DPS) immediately investigation, “I initiated an Principal Andy viewed the investigation. Mendelsberg Mendelsannounced news story not berg, Porter his retireonly as a teacher, and Wilment. Athliams were letic Director but as a parent, as a placed on and Assistant coach, as a former administrative Principal Lisa leave, so as not Porter submitted athlete.” to influence the her resignation, proceedings of and Cheer Coach the investigation. Ozell Williams was terAssistant Cheer Coach minated. A separate criminal Mariah Cladis and DPS Deputy investigation by the Denver Police General Counsel Michael Hickman Department (DPD) is ongoing. were also placed on leave. Assistant Deeply concerned about the Principal Jason Maclin was named practice of forced side splits, parinterim principal during the course ents emailed and then met with Mendelsberg, Porter and the cheer of the investigation. Boasberg said in a statement, coaches in the weeks following the “I cannot state strongly enough camp. — as the superintendent of the In DPS Superintendent Tom school district and as the father of Boasberg’s account of that first
two high school-aged daughters — that the images and actions depicted are extremely distressing and absolutely contrary to our core values as a public school community.” East parents, students and faculty reacted to the disturbing videos with shock and sympathy. “I viewed the news story - not only as a teacher - but as a parent, as a coach, as a former athlete,” said English teacher Todd Madison. “All I wanted to do was come in the next day and reassure students that they should feel safe in the school.” DPS hired an external law firm, Davis, Graham & Stubbs, to conduct an independent investigation, separately from the police criminal investigation, to determine “exactly who knew what when, both at the school and at the district level, with regard to the practice of forced splits on the cheer team, the safety of the students and the concerns of the parents,” according to a district press release.
The Investigation Nearly one month later, the law firm publicly released the full report of their investigation on Sep. 22. Investigators describe in detail the sequence of phone conversations, meetings and decisions by East High School administrators
and their contacts with parents. All families for the cheer team were given the opportunity to participate in the investigation. Six students’ families chose to be interviewed, and their identities were kept anonymous to protect the privacy of students and their families. On June 15, parents sent a series of emails to Mendelsberg, Porter and the six other assistant principals, according to the report. In the emails, one parent expressed her concerns with the forced splits stretch and attached videos of the incident. One parent wrote, “No means NO. Stop means Stop. Fast forward a few years to when the girls are in compromising positions with men. Does ‘Please stop’ mean, finish what you are doing, then stop? That is not the message these girls should be subject to.” “This is how [my daughter] hurt her leg,” another parent wrote. “[We] would like to know what the administration is going to do about my daughter’s injury and how it happened, besides force us to have a meeting [with] my daughter’s abuser?” Despite these concerns, she agreed to a meeting. In the report, the investigators also describe multiple emails from parents with other alleged concerns, including: Williams required students to friend him on social media, a step in violation of district policy; students were encouraged to purchase membership at Williams’ new gym; increased costs for cheer team expenses; and students humiliated during practice.
October 6, 2017
News
emotional, and mental abuse of our Before he met with Porter, children…I am extremely disapWilliams and parents on June 16, pointed in this experience.” the report states that Mendelsberg The report raised the question of reviewed at least five of the seven whether East High School officials videos to which he had access. had fulfilled their obligation to In the report, both Mendelsberg report child abuse or neglect, as and Porter directed Williams in required by Colorado State Law. writing to allow parents to attend Investigators noted that Menteam practice and required Wildelsberg repeatedly said liams to hold a parent meeting on during the course of June 19 “to help with the the investigation communication and that he did not “No transparency with recall certain parents and stumeans NO. conversadent-athletes.” tions when Stop means Stop. Emails and asked meetings Fast forward a few about continued specific years to when the girls between phone parents and are in compromiscalls or East adparent ing positions with ministrators meetings. throughout men.” AdditionJune and July, ally, the report during summer alleges Mendelsbreak. berg did not forward In mid-July, parents the videos to district officials emailed Mendelsberg with conand claimed at one point that he cerns regarding an overnight cheer team lock-in that took place at Spi- did not have them. Porter told investigators that she der Monkey, an indoor tumbling facility. The report noted the parent couldn not watch all of the videos, due to their disturbing content, yet alleged that, “there were possible ‘hookups’ at the event between East the report noted that “...no discistudents and young adult men, the plinary action was taken with refacility smelled like marijuana, and gard to Mr. Williams...they did not when a student woke up, male staff ensure that incident reports were filed with respect to the alleged were taking pictures of her and injuries.” another student.” However, the investigators stated Descriptions of the subsequent they “were not able to determine if follow-up by East administrators conflicted, and Williams denied the the side splits stretch was mandatory or optional.” parents’ claims. No students were Boasberg announced that the interviewed about the lock-in. When Mendelsberg returned to findings were “painfully clear” and that Mendelsberg and Porter “did school on July 24, he met with the not take the necessary steps to assistant principals, to whom he indicated that he “pushed [the vid- ensure the physical and emotional health and safety of students was eos] to HR and Legal.” According fully protected.” to the report, however, neither the videos nor emails were sent to HR A Community's Loss or the district legal team. In the weeks prior to the release On Aug. 18, a parent emailed of the DPS report, parents, students Mendelsberg and Porter regarding her daughter’s resignation from the and faculty of the East community participated in protests and cheer team, citing that her daugha letter-writing campaign to the ter was “frightened of [Williams].” district to show their support for She also wrote, “I have witnessed the administrators on leave. and heard reports of his physical,
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Mendelsberg dedicated 19 years to East High School, as principal, coach, dean, teacher, and assistant principal. He worked for DPS for approximately 26 years. During the investigation, he said, “I spent 26 years of my life trying to help kids—I would never do anything to jeopardize kids, and I would do anything to help kids get better.” “This has been a tough decision for me,” Mendelsberg wrote in a farewell letter. “While my heart will always be with the East High School community, I believe it is in the best interest of the students, teachers, my family and myself personally for me to step down in support of East moving forward.” Porter served the East community for approximately 17 years, both as a teacher and in various administrative positions, including athletic director since July 2012. During the investigation, Porter said, “I put kids first, and they are my priority. I care about kids, and I would never intentionally do anything to put them in harm’s way.”
East Reacts With the release of the DPS report on Sept. 22, the district also announced major leadership changes at East High School. Principal Andy Mendelsberg announced his retirement, and Athletic Director and Assistant Principal Lisa Porter submitted her resignation. Hickman was reinstated and Assistant Coach Cladis allowed to seek employment in DPS. Students, faculty and parents appear divided in their views of the district’s process and decisions. While some welcome the change, others continue to support their former principal. “These are extremely difficult matters. For many years, Andy Mendelsberg and Lisa Porter have served as teacher, coach, assistant principal or principal for the Denver Public Schools,” said Boasberg. “They have been colleagues, mentors, leaders, and friends for thousands of our teachers, our families and our kids. We deeply appreciate and thank them for their service.”
“I don’t think he should be a cheer coach. [Williams] definitely shouldn’t be doing that...watching it made me cringe,” senior Natalie Drummond said. “I’ve been dancing for a really long time. I’ve never seen that done.” The community was conflicted, people taking sides throughout the school and on social media about the fairness of the administrators being placed on leave. Snapchat used the hashtag, #FreeMendy.” Other students expressed the belief that cheer team members should have known how to do an extended split prior to the camp, or joining the cheer team at all. One member of the cheer team said, “I miss Mendy, and I love Mendy, and if you can’t do the splits, please don’t join cheer.” The cheer team performed at the East Homecoming pep rally. Members of the team defiantly started their routine with the full splits. “None of us really know enough to judge anything. What we want to do is move forward, welcome new directions, and really dig into the work we do,” said Madison. “It was a very destabilizing way to start the school year, but I really credit Mr. Maclin and the team, because we kept going forward.”
Moving Forward Boasberg announced the return of Principal John Youngquist, who held the same position from 20072011. Youngquist has worked for DPS in principal development and in Aurora Public Schools as Chief Academic Officer. His official start date at East is Oct. 9. “I’ll be in the hallways, I’ll be out in front in the beginning of the day, at the end of the day just available to you,” said Youngquist in an interview with The Spotlight staff. Youngquist is focused on creating a positive experience for East students, stating, “This is really a hard moment, but this moment won’t last forever. Together we can move forward very quickly, and ensure that East feels great and is great for the students here.”