Libby confrontation less about racism, more about sportsmanship, Richland says

Poor sportsmanship, not racial taunting, led to a coach-parent confrontation at a middle school basketball game, Richland School District’s initial investigation found.

Kelly Lindsley, assistant principal at Leona Libby Middle School in West Richland, said in her report that school officials on hand — one fluent in Spanish — did not hear any racial or rude comments from either school’s fans during an eighth-grade girls basketball game Thursday against visiting Ochoa Middle School of Pasco.

Pasco School District said in a statement it is still investigating the incident. Ochoa’s principal and other administrators met with the coaches and several players on Friday and will continue interviews when school resumes on Tuesday.

“The well-being of our students is a top priority, and we are working to find out exactly what happened,” the statement said. “Participating in sports is a great opportunity for our students to learn valuable life lessons in leadership, teamwork, and sportsmanship, and we want to ensure that our students are able to compete in an environment of mutual respect moving forward.”

Richland’s report said that rather than being racial, the confrontation between the Ochoa coach, who was ejected from the game, and the uncle of a Libby player began after Ochoa “chose to quit” the lopsided game with 2 minutes left.

The uncle “was accusing the coach of not coaching the team and being a quitter for not finishing,” Lindsley wrote. “The Ochoa coach marched across the gym straight toward the (uncle). The other Ochoa coach stopped him from physically interacting with (the uncle), and our administrative assistant intervened and escorted them out.”

Shane Edinger, the Pasco district’s public affairs director, said that while he is aware the Ochoa coach was ejected from the game after receiving two technical fouls, he doesn’t know what led to the foul calls or if they stemmed from the reported racist comments.

Investigations by the Richland and Pasco school districts were prompted by a parent of an Ochoa seventh-grader who played in the preceding game to the eighth-graders.

He told the Herald on Friday that his daughter was in tears when he picked her up after the games, and she said parents and players from Libby were shouting “go back to Mexico” and calling them “stupid Mexicans.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2018 at 7:03 PM with the headline "Libby confrontation less about racism, more about sportsmanship, Richland says."