ERIE, Pa. – After a long process, Farrell is still a part of District 10, and now they want the D10 committee to address the concerns that were part of the reason they wanted out to begin with.
Speaking before the District 10 committee (which was without chairman Pete Iacino, who missed the meeting due to an illness), representatives from Farrell, including Superintendent Dr. Lora Adams-King and Athletic Director and football coach Amp Pegues were in attendance at Wednesday’s District 10 committee meeting.
“Speaking as a parent as well as an administrator, I just want to see some diversity in decision-making when the committee makes rulings or decisions,” Pegues said regarding some of the racial incidents Farrell has been the victim of. “We still feel like we get the short end of the stick sometimes with some of these rulings and some of these decisions.”
Because of the timeline from both the WPIAL and the PIAA rejecting Farrell’s bid to join the WPIAL (District 10 approved Farrell’s departure in December), more formal details will be presented by both District 10 and Farrell on how the district plans on addressing those concerns at the next scheduled meeting on April 10.
Specifically, the PIAA, despite denying Farrell’s request, approved a motion to help District 10 address the issues that Farrell raised, which will be addressed in further detail in April.
On Sept. 28, students at Jamestown High School wore hair bonnets during a “pajama night” theme at a basketball game.
Around the same time, a Lakeview student posted a meme that included a racial slur in reference to Farrell.
Shenango Valley Urban League President and CEO Erin Houston also spoke during Wednesday’s meeting and said that Jamestown reached out to her for Diversity, Equity and, which was conducted in groups by grade in grades 9-12.
“I felt like it was very productive, and the kids asked a lot of good questions,” Houston said. “We don’t want to continue to have incidents when we can have conversations and be proactive and not reactive to an incident that may occur. That’s derogatory toward the students of the school district.”
District 10, which wanted to see more action from Jamestown after the racial incident in September, accepted the actions Jamestown took and put them on probation for one year.
Dr. Adams-King appreciated the steps taken, but indicated that more needs to be done.
“It’s been abundantly clear to us that your reality and our reality are sometimes different,” Adams-King said. “However, this is not about the board members or administrators from the Farrell School District or community members. This is about our children, and these are the children who I represent. I’m not trying to be insensitive or offend anyone, but it’s hard to imagine the life of a person of color when you have never lived the life of a person of color. I think the committee needs to hear what we are saying because that’s the only way you will know.”
IROQUOIS UNIFORM ISSUE ADDRESSED
A uniform issue that saw Iroquois wear white jerseys for a ‘white out’ game against Greenville this past season on Oct. 5, a violation of PIAA and NFHS rules
Both schools and officials agreed to the uniform change, it was only after the fact that it was brought to the attention of both that it violated NFHS rules.
Iroquois disagreed with the violation.
“We did not try to do anything that caused a competitive advantage,” said Iroquois Superintendent Shane Murray during a hearing about the issue on Wednesday. “We tried to follow the rules and wanted to build attendance for a Thursday night game. To be sitting here talking about a uniform that was worn between a 1-5 team and an 0-5 team is almost outrageous.”
Murray also addressed some of his ire at Iacino.
“We are here because we believe we’ve been treated very unfairly by Mr. (Pete Iacino),” Murray said.
“None of us wanted to be here (at this hearing) today,” said D10 Treasurer Jim Come. “We wanted this to bey very simple and weren’t trying to strong arm anyone.
After talking during an executive session, it was agreed that Iroquois put a written action plan in place to prevent uniform violations from happening in the future.
if that happens, the issue would be put to bed. If they don’t, they will be placed on probation.
FALL REGIONS FOR 2024-25, 25-26 APPROVED
The committee approved regions for the next two-year cycle in fall sports as they were previously presented three weeks ago.
The only change came in football, where Region 6 teams will play one crossover game against teams from Region 7 instead of three.
