Lehigh basketball coach Mike Bonilla communicates with his team from the sidelines during a game against Estero on Wednesday. Bonilla was filling in for coach Dawn McNew who was suspended. Empty seats on Lehigh’s bench are the result of the suspension of several players.
Lehigh Senior High
On the night the Lehigh Senior High School boys basketball team punched its ticket into the regional playoffs, it learned its coaching staff and nine players would not be allowed to go along for the ride.
The school’s administrators suspended seven varsity and two JV players for five days on Friday and removed their athletic eligibility for the rest of the school year for an inappropriate rap video they posted on social media. Basketball coach Dawn McNew and her two paid assistants — Ed Hearyman and Ryan Lewis — are temporarily suspended from coaching while the Lee County School District conducts a professional standards inquiry into their supervision of the team. That investigation is likely to last beyond basketball season.
The decision will most likely derail the season of a team expected to win a district title and make a run at a Class 6A state championship. Volunteer assistant coach Mike Bonilla led the Lightning (19-6) in their 61-53 District 6A-11 semifinal game win against Estero on Wednesday night despite missing most of the varsity team’s 12 players, including four starters and key reserves. The team added JV players just to have substitutions.
“We have nobody to blame but ourselves,” Lehigh junior forward Jarvis Martin Jr. said.
“Everyone makes mistakes,” Lehigh junior guard Stef’An Strawder said. “When we’re young we all make mistakes.”
The video, which was released on social media Thursday, included vulgar and profane lyrics and was shot after school in the team’s training room.
Several of the players’ parents said they were contacted Friday by Lehigh assistant principal John Peters, who handles discipline at the school, to notify them the video violated the school district’s code of conduct and that the students would be suspended for two days. By Tuesday, the parents were notified the players would be suspended three more days and banned the rest of basketball season and from playing all spring sports because the infraction was raised from a Level I to a Level II violation.
Players said they regret making the video and are at a loss for why the suspension will take away their seasons.
“We understand the video was vulgar and all that,” Lehigh senior player Deljuan Thomas said. “The fact that we got hit with two punishments wasn’t the greatest moment. A two-day and then a five-day suspension, not just basketball but all sports?”
“They took it to an extreme,” said Lehigh junior guard John Silva. “They could have suspended us the first time and given us community service. But they took away basketball. It’s everything we live for.”
All discipline is left to the discretion of a school’s principal. Lehigh principal Jackie Corey declined to specify how she came to her final determination on punishment.
“I do want to comment and say that I love these boys and their families and they have been impeccable students and scholars and athletes,” Corey said. “They made a mistake, as students will sometimes make a mistake.”
More than a dozen parents and players attended a meeting Wednesday at the Lee County School District office with county athletic director Pete Bohatch, executive director for high schools Jeff Spiro and an county attorney to discuss the the suspensions. Parents and players wanted to illustrate that the discipline was not fit for the crime and hoped the district would reconsider, but the meeting was held as more of a courtesy.
Administrators explained why they moved the infraction from Level I to Level II.
“They broke it down to us to better understand what would be a major and a minor offense,” Lehigh parent Jarvis Martin Sr. said. “But it’s really boiling down to it’s only a minor offense and it should have been just one two-day suspension.”
Inside the district office, parent Bernard Edwards Sr. said parents pointed to the video and did not shy away from its contents.
“We talked about the facts,” said Edwards Sr., whose son Bershard Edwards, a sophomore, wasn’t in the video. “We talked about we’re not trying to minimize, justify or deny what went on. And we’re just trying to see if they can reconsider their decision and grant these kids some mercy and maybe reduce their penalty from five days out of school and no more sports.”
The decision was a “tough” one for the principal to make, said Pamela LaRiviere, the Lehigh representative on the Lee County school board.
“My personal opinion is I do support the decision by the principal,” said LaRiviere, who added the punishment aligns with not only the district’s code of conduct, but the Florida High School Athletic Association’ s chapter on sportsmanship. The district’s code of conduct is updated annually by the school board, and students and their parents are required to sign off on it each school year.
Lehigh’s Shyheem Jacques-Louis snatches the rebound during a game against Estero on Wednesday.
As for McNew, a respected coach in Lee County who has led the Lightning to two region final appearances over the last four years, school district spokesperson Amity Chandler stated in a release: “The coach is temporarily suspended from coaching duties pending an inquiry into supervision practices. This coach has an impeccable professional career and reputation and is well respected among her peers. This is a necessary step however given the number of athletes involved and the scope of the student discipline.”
The News-Press education reporter Pamela Staik contributed to this report
