Two Colorado Springs high schools forfeited football games against Lutheran High School in the wake of allegations that students and community members at the private school in Parker participated in racist behavior at a game last month.
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Coronado High School announced Monday that after “weeks of careful consideration and consultation with our community,” its team will not play Thursday’s scheduled football game against Lutheran.
“Our athletic programs should reflect respect, dignity and a commitment to equal and fair play,” Jessica Wise, executive director of the Colorado Springs Schools D11 district’s engagement office, said in a statement. “Allegations of racism have been raised in connection with Lutheran’s football program. Those remain allegations, and D11 is not making a determination about them.”
D11, Coronado’s district, said it has asked Lutheran High School and the Colorado High School Activities Association for a “strong, unequivocal statement denouncing racism.”
“Neither organization has provided the district with the statement requested,” Wise said. “In the absence of the requested statements, we do not believe proceeding with Thursday’s game is consistent with those expectations.”
Lutheran executive director Dan Gehrke said in a statement Tuesday that the school condemns racism in any form and will not tolerate it.
“We are aware that Coronado High School has chosen to forfeit its upcoming game against Lutheran,” Gehrke said. “We are disappointed. School leaders met with Coronado on Friday, and on Saturday morning submitted a collaborative plan for moving forward. We learned of the forfeit without prior notice, yet remain ready to continue the conversation.”
Last week, Air Academy High School announced its team would forfeit its homecoming football game scheduled against Lutheran.
In its public statement, Air Academy officials said they were forfeiting because they could not safely play due to a lack of coaching staff.
However, student journalists at Air Academy interviewed four football players at the school who said they supported the decision to forfeit the game in protest of the alleged behavior at Lutheran’s game against Colorado Springs’ Sand Creek High School last month.
“It was sad to hear that I won’t be playing in my homecoming game, but I’m proud that we’re doing the right thing,” said Eli Malnar, a senior Air Academy football player, during the Air Academy News Crew’s interview. “I’d rather go out and do the right thing than get another win or loss. This is bigger than football.”
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The controversy stems from a Sept. 24 football game in Parker, at which multiple Sand Creek cheerleaders and the school’s cheerleading coach told The Denver Post that Lutheran students and community members made racist comments and gestures, including calling Black cheerleaders “Harriet Tubman,” using racial slurs, whipping belts in their direction, and telling them to “go back to where they came from.”
The harassment was so severe, Sand Creek cheerleading coach Sanaa Ford said she had to escort her cheerleaders back to their cars while students made monkey noises at them.
In a prior statement to the Lutheran community, Gehrke said the boys seen whipping their belts at the Black cheerleaders were not Lutheran students, and that they said they were chasing and hitting each other with belts — not being racist.
On Tuesday, Gehrke said further investigation into Lutheran students’ misconduct at the September football game was ongoing.
“We will take any disciplinary action warranted by the findings,” Gehrke said. “We continue to reach out to leaders at other schools to listen, address concerns and work toward a shared path forward.”
CHSAA officials initially announced they were gathering information about the Lutheran allegations, but in a statement Friday noted that “CHSAA is not an investigative agency.”
“Our member schools investigate matters involving their own students and communities and report their findings to us,” Ryan Casey, chief technology and innovation officer at CHSAA, said in a statement. “CHSAA’s role is to review those findings and determine whether our membership’s bylaws have been violated.”
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