Parents and members of the Revere (Ohio) High School community gathered this week at a school board meeting to learn more about an incident that led to the dismissal of all nine members of the school’s football coaching staff.
The Akron Beacon Journal reports that the coaches — two of whom are school staff — admitted to drinking alcohol during an offseason football camp at a university campus. The drinking constituted a violation of school and state codes of conduct.
The incident took place earlier this month on the campus of Heidelberg University, where coaches consumed alcohol on the lower level of the dormitory where students were staying for the night. No students were involved. University officials reported the incident to the high school the following day.
“The degree to which these coaches were consuming alcohol is not a deciding factor here,” superintendent Matthew Montgomery said at the meeting. “The issue is that our coaches engaged in the consumption of alcohol while participating in a school-related activity. This is a great group of coaches, but the standard is clearly defined. We cannot permit or condone the consumption of any alcohol by coaches while in charge of students.”
A brief investigation into the allegations was concluded on June 20. Coaches admitted to having participated in the drinking, and surveillance footage showed that the allegations were true.
The board approved bringing back former Revere head coach Terry Cistone for the 2019 season.
Some community members said that firing the coaches was too harsh a penalty. Others, however, supported the move, saying that the coaches failed to live up to their positions as role models.
In the wake of the incident, the school put all football activities on hiatus. Practices will now resume on July 1.
