LHSAA executive director Eddie Bonine said Wednesday that Carver high school’s athletic program will be audited by the Association, in the wake of what he calls a dozen rules violations during the current school year.
Carver was booted from the state 4A basketball playoffs, but Bonine said that action was not the result of a bench clearing fight last week in a game between Carver and John F. Kennedy.
Bonine said that Carver was notified on February 6th that it would not be allowed to participate in the boys basketball playoffs, a week before the incident involving Carver and JFK.
“They were already on restrictive probation,” said Bonine in a telephone interview Wednesday. Mr. Bonine said that Carver was cited for 12 rules violations over the course of the school year, including cases of ineligible student/athletes competing in various sports, including boys and girls cross country. He said that 4 such violations are the “trip wire” to going on restrictive probation.
Bonine said that 25 players, including 17 from Carver were suspended for their roles in the basketball fight with John F. Kennedy.
Bonine said the school has been assessed nearly $9,000 in fines this school year. But, he commended the current principal at Carver, Jerel Bryant, who he says has promised to fix the issues at the school.
“Mr. Bryant made a good presentation to us (at a hearing this week),” said Mr. Bonine. “He was very professional, and made a promise to look at leadership at the school.”
Bonine said the audit will likely by led by the LHSAA’s Keith Carona, the former head football coach at Independence high school.
As part of their penalties, Carver’s girls and boys basketball teams will not be allowed to play home games in the 2019-2020 school year.