A middle school girls basketball coach has been suspended after speaking to her team using racially charged terms. According to news station WSBT, Vicki Rogers, coach at Elkhart, Indiana based North Side Middle School, reportedly told her team not to “act black" and also referred to the opposing team as "ghetto."
The comments were made by Rogers to the team before a game on January 30, but are just now coming to light after parents met with school officials. The coach used the phrase in an apparent attempt to tell the 13-year-old girls to be on their best behavior when going out for pizza after the game. To me, that implies that Coach Rogers thinks black people aren’t well behaved in public.
The school says Rogers was suspended from coaching immediately for violating the district’s Coach’s Code of Conduct.
Said Athletic Coordinator Robert Woods of the Coach’s Code of Conduct and the suspension of Rogers:
“Coaches will treat all players with dignity and respect. It really says coaches will have a great influence on boys and girls, and coaches you can't forget that, the same as teachers. If you let boys or girls down in athletics, you’ve let the school system down.”
Oddly, at least one parent disagrees with the decision to suspend Rogers. The parent, who didn’t wish to be identified, said her daughter wanted the coach to be reinstated.
Rogers has been required to take sensitivity training from the Elkhart Human Relations Commission. Two whole hours of sensitivity training. I’m sure that will change everything.
Ron Davis, Director of the Elkhart County NAACP said:
“It was really out of bounds because when you’re dealing with students and especially athletes, I mean, they take to heart what you say and to say, talk about ghetto or don’t act like black kids, that’s very inappropriate to use.”
And now for the really scary part: Vicki Rogers was suspended only from coaching. She is still actively teaching children at North Side Middle School. Who knows exactly what she’s teaching them, however.