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Illinois School Board Journal
September/October 2005

Off the court, it's YOUR call

by Linda Dawson and Brad Colwell

Linda Dawson is IASB director of editorial services and Journal editor. Brad Colwell is a professor, Department of Education Administration and Higher Education, and department chair at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

Everyone knew about the cross-county rivalry between Consolidated District 102 and Community District 78 high schools.* Verbal potshots escalated every season, reaching a feverish pitch before game time.

A few fans exchanged taunts in the parking lot before this year's game at Community. Taunting continued from both sides as people waited in line at the concession stand.

With the score close and fans cheering wildly, no one was surprised when the coach for Consolidated got in the referee's face over a questionable call, poking at his chest and yelling his objections to a called foul. As the referee signaled the coach's ejection from the game, some very vocal, irate fans — adults and then students — began throwing debris onto the court.

The referee took charge on the court, but who decides if the debris-throwing fans are ejected? And what discipline measures should be exercised? According to the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), the responsibility for those decisions belongs to the administrator in charge at the event, as authorized by school board policy.

That's right. When it comes to calls off the court, it's your job as a school board to set the benchmarks for civility and sportsmanship in your district — and then follow up with discipline when that civility is breached.

Loss of civility

Across the country, media attention on sports violence seems to point to a decline in civility and sportsmanship, all the way from the professional level down to organized youth sports for elementary students...and even younger.

Many have repeatedly seen video footage of the brawl between players and fans during an Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons basketball game on November 19, 2004. NBA commissioner David Stern suspended four players and local police charged five fans with assault and battery, including one with a felony count of assault.

Others remember when fans ran onto U.S. Cellular Field during a Chicago White Sox game with the Kansas City Royals in 2003. One episode resulted in an umpire being attacked by a fan, who subsequently was charged with felony aggravated battery.

The National Association of Sports Officials receives more than 100 reports each year on incidents involving physical contact between players, coaches, fans and officials. Among them, from:

• Pennsylvania, where a "parent body-slammed a high school referee after he ordered the man's wife out of the gym for allegedly yelling obscenities during a basketball game."
• Montana, where a "basketball fan...received a $300 fine from the court for throwing a water bottle at a game official."
• Kentucky, where the father of a fifth-grade little league basketball player "physically confronted the game official during half-time after the official ejected several players for a fight" in the first half. The father also happened to be a district teacher. And in another incident, the father of a T-ball player was "briefly jailed after an outburst against an umpire during a game involving 5- and 6-year-olds." A child was injured in the ensuing scuffle.
• Texas, where a "man was arrested after shoving the referee into a swimming pool during a morning swim meet among children in San Antonio." The referee had disqualified the parent's 8-year-old from a race.

And in Illinois:

• A junior high volleyball coach tried "to take a meat cleaver into school after an argument resulting from the official forfeiting her team due to derogatory comments by a fan directed at the official" in March 2001.
• A Murphysboro man was sentenced to 90 days in jail and barred from athletic events for two years "after allegedly charging onto the field and attempting to choke a game official" in September 2003.
• The Cairo boys basketball team was barred by IHSA from participating in the 2005 basketball tournament and was placed on a year's probation following a brawl with Massac County after a 2004 playoff game.
• A Creal Springs woman was arrested in October 2004 after she and another woman allegedly attacked a basketball referee as she left the gymnasium.
• A brawl that grew to 50 or 60 fans erupted during the Harvey Thornton and Homewood-Flossmoor Class AA supersectional game at the United Center in March 2005, sending two people, including a police officer, to the hospital.

Statistics on violence

Violence in a school setting is really not new, according to a 1998 policy study, "School Violence Prevention: Strategies to Keep Schools Safe," by Alexander Volokh, a policy analyst with the Reason Public Policy Institute, with Lisa Snell, an RPPI assistant policy analyst.

"Misbehavior, violence and disruption have been recurrent themes in schools for centuries," they wrote, "and school officials have rarely been happy with student behavior. Youth misbehavior is discussed in clay tablets from Sumer written in 2000 B.C."

But whether perceived or actual, incidents of violent behavior in school sports settings seem to be increasingly more common, according to "Sport, Violence and Littleton — A Perspective" by Robert Malina, a professor of kinesiology and anthropology/archaeology from Michigan State University. "These take the form of brawls among parents, coaches and spectators, attacks on officials, and attacks of spectators by coaches," he wrote.

The numbers seem to bear this out. A survey of 3,300 parents, coaches, youth sports administrators and youth, conducted by SportingKids magazine, revealed 84 percent of respondents say they have witnessed parents acting violently (shouting, berating or using abusive language). In another survey, by Sports Illustrated for Kids, 74 percent of the reader-respondents said they had seen out-of-control adults at their games. Additionally, 80 percent of those in the SportingKids survey believe inappropriate behavior is destroying what youth sports are meant to be.

"Children learn by example," said Malina, "and adults are clearly not setting a very good example for our future athletes and spectators."

Lynn Jamieson, Indiana University, also notes the appearance of increases in "reported and visible acts of violence occurring at the community level — in schools, community recreational sports programs and similar venues." As professor and chair of the Department of Recreation and Park Administration in IU-Bloomington's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, she researches fan behavior, as well as fan influence on players and vice versa, and attributes the increased violence to a growing inability to resolve conflicts.

"The choices available to people in order to deal with conflict resolution are many," Jamieson said. "One can react to frustration in many ways. One can withdraw from an incident, can seek to defuse an incident or can react with violence.

"In this society, we see the latter more often than the former."

Many studies, she said, show the media have an effect on children — violence on TV can often be mimicked as youth and adults attempt to imitate the sports scenarios they view.

In her research, which she applied to what happened during the Pacers/Pistons brawl, Jamieson talked about "the imaginary barrier between the player/contest area and the fan area." In local sports venues, however, that barrier is much less formal because fans often are closer to the action and "feel comfortable interfering with coaching and refereeing."

In addition, familiarity with the coaches and players can either prevent problems or merely exacerbate them, particularly if lengthy rivalries are involved. "For example," Jamieson said, "a typical athlete has been involved in sport from an early age, and rivalries can be long-term."

The legalities involved

According to IHSA, the lines are well drawn as to who's responsible for discipline on and off the court. Dave Gannaway, IHSA assistant executive director in charge of all school athletic officials in Illinois, said districts are missing the boat if they don't take charge of what happens in the stands.

"Officials take care of the athletes and the coaches if they're out of line and need to be ejected," Gannaway said. IHSA training in game rules, conflict resolution and sportsmanship prepare them for that role. "But when an official has to eject a fan, the school administration is missing the boat. That means there's a lack of supervision at a high school event.

"Too many administrators out there want to pass the buck," he added. "Schools have to step up and set the example."

That example begins with safety and conduct policies adopted by the school board. Such policies fall under operational services and community relations, Sections Four and Eight in most district policy manuals.

State and federal law require that districts have a safety program policy as well as a policy on visitor conduct on school property. The safety program policy may include language such as: "The school district shall have a safety program promoting the safety of everyone on district property or at a district event." While a sample safety policy goes on to detail information about emergency exits and crisis plans, Section Eight on community relations applies to conduct of visitors on school property.

There, policy language spells out how the district expects everyone — visitors, students and staff — to conduct themselves while on school property or at school events. Sample policy might include, among other things:

"No person on school property or at a school event shall:

• Injure, threaten, harass or intimidate a staff member, a School Board member, sports official or coach, or any other person;
• Damage or threaten to damage another's property;
• Impede, delay, disrupt, or otherwise interfere with any school activity or function (including using cellular phones in a disruptive manner)."

Other numbered points could deal with violating state laws; tobacco, alcohol and drug use; defacing property; and engaging in risky behaviors, like roller-blading and skate-boarding.

Another sample IASB policy deals more specifically with spectator conduct and sportsmanship at athletic events. Sample language there states:

"Any person, including adults, who behaves in an unsportsmanlike manner during an athletic or extracurricular event may be ejected from the event the person is attending and/or denied admission to school events for up to one calendar year after a school board hearing."

Examples follow of prohibited behavior:

• Using vulgar or obscene language;
• Possessing or being under the influence of any alcoholic beverage or illegal substance;
• Possessing a weapon;
• Fighting or otherwise striking or threatening another person;
• Failing to obey the instructions of a security officer or school district employee; and
• Engaging in any activity which is illegal or disruptive.

The sample policy also details how the board, through a hearing, can deny future admission to someone for violating the provisions of the policy.

Creating good policy

The effectiveness of such school policies has a lot to do with how they are created, according to Jackie Goetter, former school board member for Decatur SD 61. In addition to following state and federal law, crafting good policy depends on the alignment between school board policy, rules from organizations like IHSA and local ordinances.

"We can't do our work in isolation," she said. "It's important that our superintendent meets with city officials to make certain our policies are consistent with theirs and to keep the lines of communication open."

Goetter was president of the Decatur board when the district faced much-publicized disciplinary hearings after a football game brawl in 1999.

"Discipline policies are probably the most challenging," she said, "because it's the behavior of the individuals who are in your district." And that behavior is something that needs to be monitored whether the students and staff are on school district property or representing the district at an event elsewhere.

"Our policies travel with the children no matter where they go," Goetter said. "There's a lot of freedom beyond the walls, but policy can't be limited by walls."

Beyond making policy broad enough to encompass numerous situations, school board members also need to ask themselves whether their policies are being applied fairly and equitably in all situations. "Policy has to be able to embrace all the situations," she said.

Ideally, policy will be created to do just that, according to Anna Lovern, IASB policy services director. "Districts can't list everything that a student might do to get into trouble, so the policy needs to be broad enough to give administrators the flexibility they need to address a wide range of misconduct. The board should take a position on behaviors that will not be tolerated and authorize the administration to carry out discipline under those policy guidelines."

Sample IASB discipline policies contain some specific prohibitions and penalties that are required by law, Lovern said. "But the main thing we do is provide boards with a sample list of prohibited student conduct, along with a list of disciplinary measures that are available to administrators. This gives administrators the authority to discipline. Then it's up to the administrator to link the violation with the disciplinary measure and come up with the appropriate level of discipline."

Goetter likes Decatur's discipline policy.

"It's progressive," she said, indicating that consequences become more severe with the seriousness of the offense and the number of times a student has been disciplined previously. "When you look at it, it gives students a chance to learn. And that's the responsibility of the board: to teach kids and help them learn."

Supervision by example

Adopting good policies may be the first step, but adequate supervision at events also goes a long way toward curbing bad sportsmanship and cutting down on the likelihood that violence will occur at a school event.

If an incident happens in a well-supervised environment, according to IHSA's Gannaway, students and adults alike will look around, knowing that the administrator will react because they're on top of it.

If the administrator is slow to react, or does not react, then "fans and parents will rule the roost," he said, and that's not good.

Michael Bartlett, IASB deputy executive director, has coaching experience and knowledge of the policy side of supervision. He sees attitude and setting an example as two of the more powerful forces at work in game-day situations.

"Probably one of the most important factors involved is the attitude exhibited by the coaches and players, both on and off the court," he said. "If the coach and players get caught up in the game and act in an unsportsmanlike manner, it's hard for the parents and other fans not to follow suit.

"I believe the best thing school board members, administrators and school employees can do to help the situation is to set a good example."

Bartlett cautions board members from actually helping with crowd control or confronting unruly people, "because that puts them in the middle of a situation that they ultimately may have to deal with in an official capacity (board hearing)."

The best solution, he said, is for the administrator in charge at the event to handle the problem immediately. "However, if the problem escalates and eventually comes before the board, I think the board must deal with it in a fair but decisive manner that will send a message that such behavior will not be tolerated."

Legal liability

When it comes to legal liability for the district in such situations, courts are usually unwilling to conclude that school officials should be required to foresee criminal acts by students or spectators. However, if the board has reason to believe that a fight would break out...that the event was "foreseeable"...then the school might be held to a higher standard for preventing the violence.

In general in Illinois, a person...or a school district...has no duty to control criminal conduct in order to prevent harm to a third person. (Wells v. Illinois, 1986) This concept comes closest to being applied to a school setting in the case of Hernandez v. Rapid Bus Co. (Illinois Appellate Court, 1994).

In this case, a special education student filed a negligence suit against a school bus company to recover damages after being raped by a fellow bus passenger. The student appealed after the Circuit Court, Cook County, entered a judgment for the bus company. The Appellate Court held that the bus company's "voluntary undertaking" of duty to see that passengers made it safely from the school bus to the school building gave rise to "duty to protect" that student from foreseeable criminal attack by a fellow school bus passenger.

Another way to determine "foreseeability" in the case of sports violence is to look at the history of the school or schools involved. Certain match-ups between historical rivalries, like the fictional scenario outlined at the beginning of this article, might trigger that higher standard.

If someone is injured as a result of violence at a school event, the question of "willful failure to supervise (conduct that led to injury)" may be raised. For that reason, schools should designate an administrator to be in charge of supervision. Even though parents and other adults may be present at an extracurricular event, that does not relieve school officials from their duty to supervise.

That "duty to supervise" can apply even when the activity is not officially sanctioned by the district, but is conducted with the district's knowledge, as in the case of the Glenbrook North powder puff football hazing, which occurred in May 2003. In supporting the school's right to discipline the students, a federal district court in Illinois stated: "The school has a right, and a duty, to retard the growth of incivility among its students."

In light of this duty to supervise and right to discipline, school boards and administrators might want to address the following recommendations:

• Conduct an investigation of any acts of misconduct at an event, whether by a student or an adult. (Editor's note: For tips on investigations, see "Should we look into that? Effective standards for investigations" in the May/June 2005 Journal.)
• Make certain the school has appropriate policies to address incivility at extracurricular events, and make certain the policies are made known to the attendees. This may mean an announcement at the beginning of each contest about sportsmanship.
• Review IHSA rules and regulations about fan conduct. (Section 2.040 in the IHSA By-Laws, http://www.ihsa.org/org/policy/2004-05/sec2.pdf)
• Contact the opposing team's administration to determine if they have reason to believe there will be any misconduct. If so, take appropriate actions (including ensuring administrators from opposing teams attend the event).
• Have the "event coordinator" (athletic director or principal) talk with referees before an event, especially if trouble is expected. Inform the officials of the locations of key administrators and law enforcement should they need them.
• Notify law enforcement of any potential sources of disruption.
• If necessary, have law enforcement escort referees to their locker room or vehicle after the game.

In general, according to UI researcher Jamieson, there is a need for all programs to be extremely well organized, and policies need to address student/parent/spectator education and expectations, and all forms of interaction, whether involving athletes, officials, coaches or spectators.

Resources

Illinois High School Association, www.ihsa.org

National Association of Sports Officials, http://www.naso.org/sportsmanship/badsports.html

Robert Malina, "Sport, Violence and Littleton — A perspective," 1999

"Violence in Youth Sports," http://shatteredpeace.com/violence_ in_youth_sports.htm