Some Olympic High volleyball players benched after protesting sexual assaults
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Olympic High
A recent reported rape at the school and another case of a football player arrested, accused of sexual violence, has embroiled the district again in complaints about safety and response.
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Some Olympic High volleyball players benched after protesting sexual assaults
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At least two Olympic High School varsity volleyball players are serving a one-game suspension as a consequence for participating in a student-led walkout protesting sexual violence, parents and two of the players told The Charlotte Observer on Tuesday.
An email shared Tuesday with the Observer shows Olympic’s school athletic director defending the decision saying, “The volleyball team members that received consequences either were seen at the unapproved protest or admitted that they were there.”
The protest, held Friday at the school, partly centered on the case of a fellow student-athlete, who was allowed to continue playing football for Olympic High after being criminally charged with a sexual felony. He was arrested before the start of school and district officials have said the alleged assault happened off campus. In a recent game, the football player was seen wearing a court-ordered electronic monitoring device, or ankle bracelet, Charlotte-Mecklenburg district officials have confirmed. Earlier this month, a second Olympic student was arrested in Charlotte, accused of raping a female student at the school.
“It’s infuriating as a female,” said one parent who wishes to remain anonymous so as not to jeopardize her employment. “Other sports teams were represented in the protest — hundreds of students were protesting — but the volleyball team was on the front line.
“If you can’t punish them all, you can’t punish any.”
Both parents of daughters on the volleyball squad said their students were only suspended for Tuesday’s match at Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology and were not suspended from school.
The protest was held Friday, with students calling for CMS leaders to do more to protect female students from violence and criticizing the school allowing the accused football player to not only return to campus but continuing playing in games.
State high school sports rules permit student-athletes under criminal investigation to continue playing and only require exclusion if the student-athlete is convicted. CMS policy is similar but that may be changing.
CMS’ district athletic director said after Friday’s protest that coaches would be instructed to exclude from future sports any student-athlete charged with a crime or under criminal investigation. To go in effect through policy, district officials have said the school board must vote.
CMS does have a board policy on student protests, demonstrations and strikes. Part of that policy states that students should be warned that they risk suspension and/or arrest if they remain on campus but do not attend classes or follow other instructions.
Punishment after Olympic protest
In an email to parents of the volleyball players, Olympic High Athletic Director Stephanie W. Wilkerson says the protest was disruptive and, she claims, not peaceful. An earlier in-school assembly, where students spoke of the need for better campus safety, was an authorized free speech event, Wilkerson says.
No widespread violence was reported from either protest event, which was covered extensively by Charlotte news media and seen in various social media posts by students who attended. As the Observer has previously reported, one student was seen being led away from the protest crowd by a police officer after she was accused of throwing an earring at Olympic’s principal.
“Honestly, I’m just disgusted that they let a football player who has sexual assault allegations against him play with an ankle monitor,” a suspended Olympic High volleyball player told the Observer. She wishes to remain anonymous for fear of retribution. “But because I speak out for feeling unsafe I get punished and not allowed to play in a game.”
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials told the Observer on Tuesday while a separate, planned indoor demonstration in the school’s gym Friday morning was authorized, the student-led walkout and protest that occurred from mid-morning until well into the afternoon was not.
Patrick Smith, the district’s assistant superintendent of communications, said the indoor event was created for students to share their “voice regarding a topic they felt deserved such attention.”
“No students have been disciplined for participating in the demonstration,” Smith said. “The walkout was not part of the planned demonstration, and was a safety hazard for students, staff and others in the area. Students who chose to walk out were informed they could face consequences due to such violations as unauthorized absence or endangering themselves and others.”
Smith said the district cannot address discipline for specific students due to privacy laws.
Since Friday’s protest, The Charlotte Observer has learned that a 16-year-old football player, whose name has not been released by the district or police, was charged before the start of the school year with a felony sex offense that occurred off campus.
In addition, that football player took the field for Olympic while wearing a court-ordered electronic monitoring device, or ankle bracelet — an aspect of the case students are particularly angry about and what led to the walk-out.
“We were benched simply for demanding a safer environment not only for us, but for all girls on a CMS campus,” said Sereniti Simpson, a 16-year-old junior whose home school is Olympic High, but she’s enrolled in the district’s early college program. Simpson helped organize the walk-out Friday and is a volleyball player who was suspended for Tuesday’s match.
“But when a football player is under investigation for a criminal offense, he is allowed to play in his next game. We are tired of our voices being silenced over and over again.”
On Monday, after Olympic High’s volleyball coach Mackenzie Walck handed down the suspensions, Simpson turned in her jersey.
“I will not play for a team or school that punishes its athletes for wanting a safer environment,” Simpson said. “It’s time to take a stand. We need to take action now.”
An unapproved protest
Late Monday night, Olympic High Athletic Director Stephanie W. Wilkerson emailed a few of the parents who questioned their daughters’ match suspensions.
Wilkerson, who did not respond to a request for comment from the Observer, responded to parents the same as district officials: that the walk out compromised the safety of students and staff and impacted the entire instructional day “to the point where students were not allowed to leave their second block class for the entire day.”
Wilkerson said students who engaged in that form of protest that resulted in unsafe actions in the school environment and displayed complete insubordination of administrative and police directives did receive consequences.
“The volleyball team members that received consequences either were seen at the unapproved protest or admitted that they were there. We want to always encourage our students to use their voices and speak out about issues that impact them,” Wilkerson wrote in an email the Observer obtained. “However, when doing so, they must not infringe on any other student or staff members right to remain safe while on school grounds. I can assure you, the events that happened after the school approved protest were not peaceful or civil in nature.”
Friday’s Olympic High boycott, as one flyer described it, was held for the “safety of females in our school,” and many believe the school isn’t “taking these allegations seriously.”
Several CMPD officers were on the scene. The crowd by 10:30 a.m., was estimated at about 150, but students told the Observer that at one point there were as many as 500 student protesters.
For the most part, no property was destroyed and the students’ protesting remained peaceful, waving signs and chanting.
This story was originally published October 5, 2021 at 2:34 PM.
