Kearney Public Schools Administration Office, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
In our most recent board meeting, a former KHS girls’ basketball coach came forward, along with a few supportive parents, to publicly state that he was forced to resign his position in what he described as a “tactical witch hunt”. Very directly, this is a false statement and doesn’t represent the whole story of this situation. It is requisite for me as Superintendent to defend Kearney Public Schools and the actions that were taken.
To be clear, prior to Coach Carson’s decision to resign, various allegations of professional misconduct were brought forward from the community regarding former coach JD Carson. The misconduct allegations included behaviors that do not reflect the professional conduct we expect from coaches in KPS. The behaviors include the following: “fishing” for compliments from various players, saying things like “I’m fat and I don’t know why my wife is married to me” only to have players refute those comments, driving a team van to a summer tournament where the song “Wet A** P****” by Cardi B was played and potentially sang by all in the van including Coach Carson who “didn’t remember”, handing out awards at a team banquet that included an award to “the girl who got the most SnapChat numbers from guys on road trips”, and taking a selfie with the players who were clad in bikinis on a summer trip. To be very clear, the most serious allegation of misconduct included a flirtatious relationship and preferential treatment of a specific player.
Multiple players were questioned regarding these allegations and multiple players signed affidavits that confirmed these allegations were true. There has never been, nor was there any evidence to suggest that any inappropriate physical relationship occurred between Coach Carson and a player. When the investigation was complete, and with the validation of several allegations, Mr. Ganz asked Mr. Carson to resign his position. I firmly support Mr. Ganz’s recommendation and can’t believe anyone would support the immature, unprofessional, lack of judgment behaviors Mr. Carson exhibited.
The travesty of this investigation is that the girls who should be protected through a private inquiry have been placed into a public position of supporting their former coach and made to feel responsible for this situation and his behaviors. Coach Carson is responsible for his own behaviors and it’s important the girls know they are not at fault.
Some players who didn’t expect the coach to be removed were upset and some parents have questioned the investigation and the questions players were asked. We feel confident these questions were appropriate, especially considering potential Title IX violations. We have to ask the tough questions. Not asking direct questions is considered “deliberate indifference” under Title IX. The district owes it to all of our players and parents to get to the bottom of any concerning reports, especially allegations of any potentially inappropriate behaviors and relationships. While some players and parents are upset, other parents and community members have come forward supporting the district’s actions. The parents and community have asked the district to consider an independent review of our investigation. We will consider all options available to meet that request.
It was also mentioned by Mr. Carson that KPS doesn’t protect coaches and many of them are scared. To our coaches, let me be clear–we receive multiple complaints about many coaches every year. We support our coaches through these claims and we have not fired any coach due to parental complaints. With that said, we expect our coaches to be role models and positive examples for the teen athletes they are leading. As a society, we should expect more from those who lead children and we do at Kearney Public Schools.
In closing, while we would prefer an “at-will” coaching position and the dirty laundry associated with this situation to remain private, Coach Carson and others have decided to make this very public. As the Superintendent of the district, I’m not going to sit back and have our actions and responses to unprofessional conduct passed off as a “forced resignation”. Mr. Carson was removed for legitimate causes and afforded the professional courtesy of a quiet resignation, a courtesy he didn’t take. Our administrators acted to protect our players from an adult who didn’t understand or accept the responsibility he was given. Kearney Public Schools is a standard-bearer public school system and we cannot, nor will we, accept that type of behavior. We stand ready to defend those ideals and we will do so at every turn.
Respectfully,
Jason Mundorf
Superintendent
