The head coach of Air Academy High School’s football team told district leaders he wasn’t willing to expose his team to possible “racial abuse” and refused to play Lutheran High School after the private school in Parker was accused of racist behavior last month, according to internal emails obtained by The Denver Post.
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Publicly, Air Academy announced its team would forfeit the Oct. 9 homecoming game due to a lack of coaching staff, omitting any mention of the racism allegations. Players later said they supported the decision to forfeit in protest of the alleged behavior by students and adults attending Lutheran’s game against Sand Creek High School.
The emails, obtained by The Post under the Colorado Open Records Act, paint a fuller picture of the fallout from those accusations, including the conflict within Colorado Springs’ Academy District 20 between a coach who chose to take a stand and administrators who appear to have sought to keep that quiet.
The Colorado High School Activities Association has since threatened to suspend Lutheran for “unacceptable discriminatory behaviors and language” across multiple games and events. Lutheran executive director Dan Gehrke has said the school “condemns racism in any form, and we will complete every requirement CHSAA has set.”
Lutheran is scheduled to play Montrose High School on Friday evening — the Parker school’s first football game since the controversy erupted earlier this month.
On Oct. 5, two days before the forfeiture was announced, Air Academy head football coach and dean Waymond Jackson emailed a District 20 official, saying he hadn’t made his decision lightly and that it wasn’t “about football. It is about whether our kids are safe.”
“I am writing as the head football coach at Air Academy High School, and as a Black man responsible for young people in this district, about the reports of racial slurs tied to Lutheran High School’s football players and fans,” Jackson wrote. “…My first responsibility is the safety and dignity of the students, managers and families in my program. I will not knowingly send them into an environment where they may be subjected to racial abuse.
“Unless these allegations are fully investigated and meaningfully dealt with, Air Academy will not play Lutheran,” he continued. “That means real accountability for the players and adults involved, and concrete steps to make sure this does not happen at our game.”
When reached for comment Thursday, Jackson said he was “not allowed to talk to media and was told not to answer any questions or provide comments.”
‘A slap in the face’
The controversy stems from a Sept. 24 football game at Lutheran against Colorado Springs’ Sand Creek High. Multiple Sand Creek cheerleaders and the school’s cheerleading coach told The 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.”
As word of the allegations spread, the incident garnered media coverage and prompted a review by CHSAA. Air Academy and Coronado High School, another school in Colorado Springs, forfeited their upcoming games against Lutheran.
The Post sought the internal emails because the school’s initial forfeiture announcement had not said whether that decision was linked to the racism controversy.
The district followed up with a later statement “to provide additional depth and clarity” that revealed concerns about racial remarks made at a game between Lutheran and another District 20 school, Rampart High School. But it still did not acknowledge why Air Academy did not have enough coaches to play.
The emails indicate District 20 leadership did not support Jackson’s refusal to coach the game, and suggest school leaders sought to keep his decision from being shared with students.
“I consider it a slap in the face that Academy District 20 has not backed our decision not to play,” Jackson wrote. “When a coach stands up to protect students from racism, the district should stand behind that coach, not leave him to defend the decision alone. Our players and families are watching how this is handled, and so are the employees of color in this district.
“If this is how the district treats its employees of color, I don’t want any part of it,” he added. “I am asking the district to formally support our decision, and to share it with Lutheran High School and CHSAA.”
Air Academy’s flag football coach, in an Oct. 5 email to a parent, also indicated a lack of support from the top. “As of right now, the district will not back us if we do not play,” Barry Clark wrote. “We will play and hope CHSAA does something.”
In response to questions about the internal emails, District 20 chief communications officer Mark Belcher directed The Post to a prior statement from the district’s interim superintendent and board president saying racism should never be tolerated.
“While a variety of records may be provided, individual emails between staff do not always represent the stances or positions of the district, may lack full context and may not be accurate,” Belcher added in an email.
The public announcement
On Oct. 7, Air Academy Principal Amy Ripperger and Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Kali Maxwell announced their school could not play its homecoming game against Lutheran two days later because the football team didn’t have sufficient coaching staff.
District 20’s follow-up statement on Oct. 8 said it had “engaged in collaboration and partnership” with Air Academy and Lutheran that week with the intent to play Friday’s homecoming game. The district said it was limiting “visiting fan attendance to family members of Lutheran football players,” and that security enhancements would be made.
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“Ultimately, individual decisions affected the level of coaching participation available,” the district said. “Given those circumstances, Air Academy was not in a position to safely field and support a varsity football contest.”
Last week, CHSAA found that Lutheran spectators and participants had used discriminatory language and behaviors during the current football season and the prior basketball season, spanning multiple events and games. Lutheran faces suspension unless it completes a mandatory corrective action plan set by CHSAA.
In Jackson’s email to district leadership, he noted that Rampart staff had alleged Lutheran players, parents and attendees directed racial slurs at Rampart families at a previous football game. He said Rampart staff described the behavior as “disgusting and foul.”
Jackson noted the allegations against Lutheran were not limited to a single isolated incident.
“They are reports from two schools, across three games and two levels of play, involving both students and adults,” he wrote. “I take these allegations seriously, and I expect the district to do the same.”
Disappointment and fundraising
Gehrke, Lutheran’s executive director, told The Post on Thursday that racist language or behavior violates the school’s values and will not be tolerated.
He said in the days before the scheduled Air Academy game, Lutheran school leaders met with Air Academy and District 20 officials “to address their concerns about the allegations from the Sand Creek and Rampart games.”
“We offered a plan for spectators and proposed a meeting of the head coaches,” Gehrke said in a statement. “We were disappointed to learn late on Wednesday, Oct. 7, that Air Academy would forfeit. We regret that students lost the chance to compete.”
In an earlier email to the Lutheran school community, Gehrke said he had talked with the boys who were whipping their belts at the Sept. 24 game, and that they were not Lutheran students and were not being racist when snapping their belts.
In the face of the allegations, a Lutheran parent coalition has started an online fundraiser to pay for security for their students and to fund legal action.
“In response to recent allegations, public hostility and concerns about student well-being, we are raising funds for additional security measures to protect students from potential threats, harassment and violence — both in person and online,” a post on the fundraising page said. “We are also seeking support for legal action involving CHSAA, media outlets and individuals who have publicly accused Lutheran High School students, coaches, families, administrators and the broader community of racism.”
As of Thursday, the fundraiser had collected more than $53,000 toward a $500,000 goal.
‘We have zero coaches willing to coach’
Prior to forfeiting, Maxwell — Air Academy’s athletic director — emailed district leadership on Oct. 6 to request additional security at upcoming games against Lutheran “due to recent events involving” the Parker school.
That same day, Becky Harris, District 20’s assistant superintendent for learning services, emailed district leadership to communicate the plan for dealing with Jackson’s decision to pull out as coach of that Friday’s homecoming game against Lutheran.
“Dr. Ripperger respected Coach Jackson’s decision and directed him to not communicate anything to his coaching staff or students,” Harris wrote.
The email said the school would have a meeting with Air Academy coaches later that day to ask for substitutes to lead the team and that Maxwell would share the importance of stability for students and “not sharing Coach Jackson’s decision with students.”
Air Academy failed to find anyone to step in for Jackson, according to the emails obtained by The Post.
“FYI, we have zero coaches willing to coach on Friday night,” Ripperger wrote in an email to district leadership on Oct. 7. “This will change our trajectory.”
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