Missing money, Part 1
The gate receipts from four 2015 Dayton Public Schools home football games went missing, according to an audit done by DPS internal auditor Randall Harper. That audit also showed gate receipts from one 2014 game missing, for a total of $14,312 over five games.
Harper said there was no documentation that the deposits were ever picked up. Asked if there could be even more money missing, Harper said the audit didn’t test all athletic department receipts, so “that may be a possibility.”
FULL STORY: Dayton schools say football ticket money is missing
Missing money Part 2
DPS instituted a new policy manual for the athletic department after last year’s problematic audit, and Harper said Tuesday that on the whole, procedures are being followed better.
But he also said there was another case of missing funds from the 2016-17 school year. Harper said a school district employee is paying that money back over the next few months, but he did not specify who, or how much.
“The individual responsible for the funds at that time, I do not believe it was theft on their part,” Harper said. “Obviously someone did steal the funds at some point. … If the procedures on timely deposits were followed, that could have mitigated this.”
FULL STORY: DPS employee repaying missing athletics money
Ineligibility issue missed
Dunbar had to forfeit two football games last fall, because an ineligible star player appeared in both games.
According to DPS’ internal investigation, no principal, coach or athletic director raised the issue of the teen’s ineligibility until a full week after his grades disqualified him.
Dunbar school athletic director Pete Pullen said he was calculating the student’s eligibility based on his GPA, not understanding that he hadn’t passed enough credits in his block schedule. Dunbar football coach Darran Powell said he didn’t know gym classes counted for less credit.
District Athletic Director Mark Baker said he had virtually no experience with block schedules. And although OHSAA bylaws list school principals as primarily responsible for oversight, Dunbar Principal Crystal Phillips’ interview indicates she wasn’t aware of the problem until the day of the second game.
FULL STORY: ADs, principal, coaches missed eligibility issue
Lose the game on purpose?
All Dayton Public Schools boys and girls athletic teams were placed on three-year probation this spring as a public reprimand “for a lack of administrative responsibility and institutional control.”
That Ohio High School Athletic Association penalty stemmed from Dunbar football players running multiple plays designed to make them lose their game against Belmont.
Dunbar’s coaches said the suggestion came from district athletic director Mark Baker, once the player ineligibility issue was found. Baker denied giving that directive, but OHSAA officials later said Baker was involved. Dayton’s school board has since extended Baker’s contract.
“It strikes at the heart of what we believe high school sports are all about, and that’s teaching life lessons and the things you want them to learn as citizens when they’re out of school,” OHSAA Commissioner Dan Ross said. “For us, it was reprehensible that anything like that would be suggested.”
GAME VIDEO: Watch Dunbar throw intentional interception
Day-to-day eligibility
Like many other districts, Dayton Public Schools has had problems enforcing player eligibility. OHSAA Board of Directors records show Meadowdale had to forfeit a 2015 football game because of a transfer student violation. Thurgood Marshall had to forfeit three football games in 2009 for using an ineligible player, and missed the playoffs despite going 10-0 “on the field.”
Other minor cases involved a seventh-grader from another school playing in a Ponitz freshman football game, a Stivers 2014-15 transfer being ruled ineligible because “the family has not made a bona fide change of residence,” and numerous international students competing for DPS schools before OHSAA had made an eligibility ruling.
RESOURCE: OHSAA meeting minutes show all ineligibility findings
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