Boys basketball at SDHS gets investigated

I think that a good way to keep kids in school is to let them play basketball. It sounds to me like the San Diego High School coach was trying to help kids when he let them play.

On the other hand, I need to know more to understand the undue influence and residence irregularity allegations.

District findings not revealed in San Diego case
San Diego Union Tribune
By Brent Schrotenboer
January 21, 2009
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

The San Diego Unified School District has completed its investigation into the San Diego High boys basketball program. A district spokesman said it would not publicly release the results because it's a “personnel matter.”

Superintendent Terry Grier and district General Counsel Mark Bresee next week plan to discuss whether they're going to take action based on the investigation, spokesman Jack Brandais said. He said any decision would be made by the Board of Education.

The district hired the law firm of Fagen, Friedman & Fulfrost in San Marcos to conduct the inquiry. It looked into allegations of undue influence and residency irregularities involving the transfers of three high-profile players, including two from Oklahoma.

Last week, Grier announced that Cavers head coach Kenny Roy and two assistant coaches would be placed on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation. The three transfers were ruled ineligible before the season by the California Interscholastic Federation's San Diego Section. The players appealed but have yet to play a game. Roy has denied wrongdoing.

The section did its own investigation and requested the district do the same in a Dec. 19 letter addressed to Grier and San Diego High Principal Rocio Weiss. In the letter, section Commissioner Dennis Ackerman wrote that a district investigation was required, especially in light of a message it obtained that was sent from the e-mail address of San Diego High Athletic Director Ty Guzik to Helix High Athletic Director Damon Chase. The e-mail from Guzik said, “We okay almost every kid as no kid should have to sit out because of adult rules.”

The section appears to have viewed this as disregarding CIF eligibility rules. Guzik declined comment when reached Friday.

San Diego High School classes of 1918, 1966

In high school in the 1960s (class of 1966), I sampled the water in this drinking fountain to find protozoans to examine in biology class. Unfortunately for me, my sample had a shortage of interesting one-celled creatures to look at, and our microscopes weren't strong enough to see bacteria.

Apparently SDHS students had a different problem in 1918. As you can see from the above photo of boys standing around the fountain, there was a surplus of tiny infective agents at San Diego High School in 1918. According to the San Diego Union Tribune, the masks saved the lives of many people in San Diego during the worldwide flu epidemic.