Some parents hiring legal teams following investigation into hate messages among Amador High School football team
SUTTER CREEK — The recent fallout within the Amador High School varsity football program has some parents now hiring legal teams.
This comes after the Amador County Unified School District completed an investigation into what it described as disturbing chat messages with racial overtones.
The district had suspended the varsity football team's season after the group chat was discovered. The months-long investigation found some football players did use racist, anti-semitic and homophobic speech in a team group chat.
The findings were published in a short email and sent out Friday night after business hours.
Sophomore Emily Bullard is unsure whether the investigation into hate speech by some members of the football team will lead to any change on campus.
"At our school, kids say a lot of stuff and they don't care how it affects people," Bullard said. "I think they'll try to keep it more low-key. I don't think they'll stop."
The district's investigation found derogatory language and slurs in a football team chat, along with a culture of bullying. No students were suspended or expelled.
A parent on the football team said her son is one of ten students who left the school after feeling branded a racist and said she has hired attorneys to file a lawsuit against the district for how it handled its investigation.
The investigation has created a divide in Amador County.
"I think it was really hard for people to lose the football season," parent Bethany Renfree said. "I know that caused a lot of hurt for people."
Renfree is hopeful the outcome of the investigation will bring more tolerance to the community.
"A lot of people have shared their experiences and said this has been a problem for a long time," she said.
The findings also found unequal access to facilities at the school for boys and girls, which is possibly in violation of federal Title 9 laws.
It's a harsh spotlight on Amador High School student relations. Though, Bullard hopes there will be a return to football next year.
"It's kind of a bummer not having a real big game against Argonaut, and it was kind of a bummer not having varsity games to go to," she said.
Late Monday, district Superintendent Torie Gibson confirmed the varsity football season will be back next season.
All football coaches were cleared in the investigation and are facing no discipline.