Issue | Background | Findings | Conclusions | Recommendations | Responses | Attachments Addressing Unacceptable

Relocating the snack bar to a neutral area that will limit HMB High School teams and fans from coming in contact with visiting teams and their fans.

Putting up a fence in back of the bleachers of the visiting team area. Conclusion The Grand Jury concludes that:

Formulate and implement a response plan to deal with unacceptable behavior at sporting events.

Direct the Half Moon Bay High School Principal to: a. Take appropriate steps to implement the physical plans listed above in the Grand Jury's findings in this report. b. Provide all students with the policies listed in Recommendations 1 and 2 above. c. Have all students sign a form that verifies that they have read the disciplinary policy. Sportsmanship Contract CIF/Central Coast Section April 24, 2008 September 30, 2008 Honorable Joseph C. Scott Judge of the Superior Court Hall of Justice 400 County Center, 2nd floor Redwood City, CA 94063-1655 Re: Addressing Unacceptable Behavior at Half Moon Bay High School Sporting Events Report. Following are responses from Cabrillo Unified School District regarding the findings, conclusions, and recommendations contained in this report: Findings The Grand Jury found through its investigation that: • Unacceptable behavior has been a problem at HMBHS sports events for many years. District response: We concur that unacceptable behavior occurred during a football game between Half Moon Bay High School and Sequoia High School last fall hosted by HMBHS. Although some of the allegations stemming from that game were never substantiated, the Cabrillo Unified School District and the Half Moon Bay High School communities are fully committed to creating and sustaining an atmosphere that is safe, warm, and welcoming for athletes, officials, and spectators. As you will note in our responses that follow, we seek to use this incident to generate improvements in our game management that will characterize Half Moon Bay High School as a model program where every action reflects the core principles of the California Interscholastic Federation’s publication “Pursuing Victory with Honor.” We disagree with the more general finding that “unacceptable behavior has been a problem at HMBHS sports events for many years.” It has? With all due respect, this assertion paints a broad brush stroke across all of our athletic programs, all participating athletes, all coaches, and all spectators. This is a very damaging – Cabrillo response to Unacceptable Behavior claim. Does the Grand Jury have specific evidence to support this sweeping statement? If so, such documentation should be shared with the District. • HMBHS Principal and student body officers issued written apologies to Sequoia. District response: We concur with this finding. • No concrete evidence of policy or procedures was discovered regarding specific disciplinary actions to be taken against guilty parties or school sports teams. District response: We disagree with this finding. Countless hours were spent interviewing game officials, coaches, school officials, and players… reviewing tapes of the game… and cross-checking our findings with Sequoia High School personnel. The District was unable to either substantiate a number of the allegations or identify individuals who allegedly engaged in inappropriate behavior. We disagree with the notion of taking action against a “sports team” unless it can be established that virtually every member of that team was guilty of engaging in inappropriate or unsafe behavior. We do not believe in “punishing many” for the actions of a few. • CUSD interviewees stated the belief that its unique small town isolation could be a contributing factor to the HMBHS attitudes and behavior. District response: Who were those interviewees? Individuals can harbor and express very unique perspectives. The District is not in a position to either agree or disagree with such a finding. We believe that the small town flavor and rich history of our coastal communities are very positive factors and one of the reasons why so many people seek to live here on the Coast. • HMBHS has engaged the Positive Coaching Alliance to facilitate the promotion of good sportsmanship by the HMBHS administration. By fall, 2008, the Positive Coaching Alliance will have met with coaches, staff, student athletes, and their parents. District response: We concur with this finding. The Grand Jury also found that HMBHS plans to: • Provide sensitivity training to all students. District response: We concur with this finding. • Have more visible staff on site to deter and handle and mischief at HMB High School sporting events. – Cabrillo response to Unacceptable Behavior District response: We concur with this finding. Specific implementation strategies are addressed in the Schoolwide Changes for Sporting Events plan that was developed by Half Moon Bay High School staff and presented to the Board for review and approval on June 5, 2008. • Accept the proposed changes to the Sportsmanship Contract. The Sportsmanship Contract is “the minimum requirement, and the schools can always provide more information to remind students, athletes, and parents of the importance of sportsmanship.” District response: We concur with this finding. • Make physical changes to the football field to limit contact between visiting teams and their fans and HMBHS fans. The proposed changes include: 1) Relocating the snack bar to a neutral area that will limit HMB teams and fans from coming in contact with visiting teams and their fans. 2) Putting up a fence in the back of the bleachers of the visiting team area. District response: We concur with this finding although we do not agree with the premise that the physical changes are needed to “limit HMB teams and fans from coming into contact with visiting teams and their fans.” This is another sweeping and very damaging assertion that seems to suggest that visitors need to be “protected” from our teams and fans. We are a welcoming community that routinely hosts thousands of visitors and tourists on an annual basis. In a vast majority of instances, visitors to our athletic events and other extracurricular programs discover very warm and welcoming environments. The physical changes that are being implemented at significant cost, including a new staircase providing far greater access to field level and the visitor’s bleachers, are designed to create better pedestrian traffic flows and greater access to facilities (restrooms, snack bars, etc.) There is already a fence in the back of the bleachers of the visiting team area. We are expanding the bleachers and revamping our security measures on that side of the field as part of a comprehensive plan to create an even safer and more welcoming environment for interscholastic competition. Conclusions The Grand Jury concludes that: 1. Although steps have been taken to encourage cordiality with spectator sports fans from both HMBHS and visiting teams, implementation of some of these proposed changes have not yet occurred. – Cabrillo response to Unacceptable Behavior District response: We are not sure when this assertion was made but the District has taken a significant number of steps in the aftermath of the original event to “encourage cordiality” and to address virtually every recommendation that was generated by the Grand Jury, as detailed below. Given the relatively brief time to respond to this report and the costs associated with several of the recommendations, we believe that the thoroughness of our response to the alleged events of last October is particularly noteworthy.