An Albert Einstein High School varsity football player told members of the Montgomery County Public School Board (BOE) on Thursday that when his team played on Sept. 30, 2021, it was “the toughest game we’ve ever played. against Sherwood High School.”
Lindsey Broitman was not referring to the skill or competitiveness of the game, but that “throughout the game, the student section of SHS was making negative comments about the race, body and skill of our players on the pitch”.
Broitman, a senior, said that after the game “our players felt terrified, upset, frustrated, disappointed and inaudible”.
She told the BOE in public comments at the January 13 meeting that a teammate left the pitch in tears “because she was ashamed of her body for the last 90 minutes.”
Broitman, along with teammate Natalie Ramirez, participated in restorative study circles with administrators, advisers, athletic directors and students from both schools, she said. However, she said the study circle was not effective enough and the verbal abuse continued.
Broitman asked the BOE to expand these study circles across the county and to suspend playing and attending games “or even remove from the team” any students involved.
MCPS “must implement preventative measures. If MCPS is serious about creating an anti-racist environment, students in these situations must face repercussions because if they don’t, they will continue these racist/hateful practices well beyond high school,” she said. testified.
Following his remarks, BOE member Rebecca Smondrowski called on MCPS staff to “find out immediately” about this incident. “I hope our staff will take care of it as soon as possible.”
BOE member Judy Docca said: “The Sherwood incident really bothers me,” adding: “We have to stop this stuff.
Board member Lynn Harris said she hopes Broitman will be included in future discussions about how best to end these incidents. While Broitman only spoke of one incident, Harris noted, “Unfortunately, they are not isolated.”
Recently, these two schools experienced similar incidents. According to MCPS system-wide athletics director Jeffrey Sullivan, there was an incident involving racist and derogatory comments during a Jan. 8 women’s varsity basketball game between Sherwood and Albert High Schools. Einstein. He called the incident “inexcusable”.
Sullivan wrote a letter to the MCPS community, advising them that there was a report of “inappropriate language used by a member of each team.” “At the end of the game, a student from each team accused each other of making racist and derogatory comments during the game.”
This rivalry sparked an earlier racial incident when Sherwood played Einstein in a football game in October 2021. Sherwood High’s cheering section and crowd members called derogatory names against the Asian community, according to the manager of Sherwood High School at the time.
Of the Jan. 8 incident, Sullivan noted that the incident was “in direct conflict with our RAISE core values of respect and sportsmanship, academic excellence, integrity and character, spirited competition and safe, and fair and accessible Such actions are inexcusable and people who engage in such behaviors are not welcome in our program.
“We will not tolerate statements or actions that harm or discriminate against others, including by race, gender identity, or socioeconomic status,” Sullivan wrote.
A petition on Changer.org called on the MCPS Board of Education “to open our eyes to the racism that Sherwood lets slip.” Enough is enough and we need you to help us bring change to our schools.
As of January 13, 723 people have signed the petition.
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