(Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu)
Robinson Secondary School swimming coach Clayton Joyner and assistant Kevin Nolan were fired last Thursday following a locker room incident at a Dec. 3 swim meet at Cub Run RECenter in Chantilly.
According to the parent of a swimmer on the team who requested anonymity, members of the boys’ swim and dive team were questioned regarding the incident by Robinson principal Dan Meier, athletic director Marty Riddle and a student resource officer last week. At a meeting for parents and swimmers last Thursday night, Meier said he had received a report of a hazing incident in the boys’ showers following Robinson’s meet against Westfield.
Joyner and Nolan were fired prior to the meeting Thursday.
“What was described to us was definitely horsing around which the administration interpreted to be hazing,” said the parent. “We were told a county employee at Cub Run overheard a swimmer say ‘bring me a freshman’ and that’s why it was perceived to be hazing. We’re not sure if the kids clearly understood what constitutes hazing and where you draw the line – when something goes from horsing around to hazing.”
Fairfax County Public Schools Student Activities and Athletics Director Bill Curran confirmed the firings but declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding them.
“Since it deals with personnel matters and student disciplinary measures, I can’t really address the issue,” Curran said.
Riddle did not immediately return a voicemail requesting comment. Meier referred a request for comment to Paul Regnier, a spokesman for Fairfax County Public Schools.
“I can’t even acknowledge what this situation is since it involves a personnel matter and student discipline,” Regnier said. “I can say that there is a new swim coach.”
According to a parent who attended the meeting, Meier described a scene of swimmers emptying soap dispensers on bathroom floors to create a “slip and slide.” Meier also relayed an account of swimmers lathering up their hands with soap and slapping freshman team members.
Curran also confirmed that an e-mailed “statement of expectations regarding coaches’ responsibilities when they’re at pools” was sent to Fairfax County athletic directors late last week to be forwarded to swim coaches. Curran said the e-mail was “standard operating procedure” at the beginning of each winter swimming season and was intended to “remind coaches of what their responsibilities are when they’re outside of an FCPS facility.”
Phil Caslavka, who began the season as an assistant coach at Oakton, was hired to replace Joyner over the weekend. Caslavka, 23, was a long-term substitute teacher at Robinson and last week was also hired as a full-time government teacher.
Joyner was in his second season as coach. He led the Rams girls to a second consecutive Virginia AAA state championship last winter.
“I was completely surprised by the decision,” Joyner said. “The program was headed in the right direction with everyone working hard toward another state championship. They’re a really good group of kids, and I’m very proud of the swimmers and divers regardless of what happens.
“I’ve received overwhelming support from the team members and their parents and I’m very grateful for that.”
A conduct list labeled “Rules & Lettering Requirements” on the Robinson swim team Web site states “Any form of hazing (including shaving heads) will result in immediate dismissal from the swim/dive team.”
“There was a lot of emotion and it was definitely an awkward situation,” the parent said. “I suspect Meier felt he had no other choice, but the parents were looking for a lot more details to explain firing the coaches.”
The Robinson boys’ team had won seven consecutive Virginia AAA state championships before that streak was snapped by Concorde District rivals Oakton last winter. The night after the firings and parents meeting, the Rams boys and girls suffered a lopsided defeat to the Cougars.
Tags: AAA Northern Region, Concorde District, Oakton High School, Virginia High School Swimming
I feel that if FCPS is going to react this way to the coaches, then any teacher who allows a student to go to the restroom during class and a fight breaks out in the restroom, which happens a lot, then those teachers should be fired. It is the same idea. It is interesting how FCPS administrators are so quick to fire the coaches, why are they expendable? What did they do wrong? Did they encourage or start this behavior? Did they sit there, watch, and do nothing. What are we teaching our students? NOT to be accountable, responsible, and follow the rules. That we will blame someone else for your actions, so it looks like we did something, and move along. I am appalled by the lessons we are teaching our students. Yes, boys will be boys, things were blown out of proportion. When will the school think about the message you are teaching our students?
I was on RSD the four previous years. This activity (slip and slide and slapping butts) has always occured and has NEVER been a problem. In fact this always led to increased team spirit and unity. It is impossible to consider this hazing because everyone willingly participated in it and if you were uncomfortable, you could sit out. There was never any pressure to participate and it was only meant for fun and team unity.
Another thing – when we did these slip and slides, we never vandalized or left a mess. We made sure to wash away the soap, and sometimes asked the guards for a hose to help clean up. We had fun but also cleaned up the mess. Also, the facility was always closed (Friday night) so no other patrons could have been in the shower and gotten harmed. So it was a completely harmless activity used for team building.
The actions of the lifeguard were a gross overreaction. However, the main fault lies with the administration. To interrogate students for hours and try to force them to tell lies is inexcusable. And to never inform the coaches of what was occuring was absurd. To be honest, the coaches and parents of the swimmers have the right to sue the school. I just hope this is not how the administration usually acts, because I fear greatly that the rights of students and coaches will be further violated in the future.
Unfortunately, this IS the way the FCPS administration acts. The Stuart example from last year was characterized by the same over-reaction, unjust interrogation tactics, firing of coaches, and in addition, suspending many of the swimmers (right before Districts) regardless of their role in the activity. The administration has had opportunities to use these incidents to improve behavior of student athletes but instead has mishandled every aspect of them and has actually created an environment where the students find it better to lie than tell the truth. The admisitration has blown opportunities to create strong student leaders and instead focused on pitting students against each other in feable attempts to get them to rat each other out. Why not suspend the entire team from one meet? Likely this would empower the captains to take the initiative and insist that the team behave in a manner acceptable to the facility at which they are swimming. Peer pressure to act mature and follow rules is more effective than creating an environment where the kids feel persecuted by the school adminsitration. In both instances, the activities directors have been unprepared to handle these situations and have been more concerned with protecting their own butts and job security than maintaining the integrity of the situation. My guess is that FCPS adminstrators at all levels would like to see swimming disappear so they can use the money for the sports they feel matter like football. The adminstrators are not capable of being honest and forthcoming with the details of the Robinson incident (nor were they of the Stuart incident) and parents and swimmers will likely never understand the true motivation behind the firing of two great coaches.
Wow, this is complete BS. You guys are right, why are coaches so expendable? (just in case you’re wondering about hte credibility of my statement) I’m a teacher and coach in pg county, grew up in loudoun county(potomac falls/broad run), and i’m disgusted after reading this. The funny thing is it’s not just with high schools. When professional athlete’s do dumb $#!+ the coach is the one that’s penalized. Why is this? A coach can only do so much and we can’t be everywhere at all times. The worst part about this is that in the article it never said that the coach was even in the locker room when this happened. And no, the coach shouldn’t be hovering around the locker room at all times after a competition. No coach does that, and if they do they probably have a problem and don’t need to be around highschoolers! Bottom line: HOLD STUDENT/ATHLETES ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS!!!
I don’t know anything about high school students’ locker room behavior (and when my son is older, I don’t want people slapping him) but I would like to say that my 10 year old daughter swims under Coach Joyner and I have seen him with kids of all ages, including many of his high school students.
I have often though of how grateful I am that I found Coach Joyner for her because he is a true educator. He maintains authority over the swimmers, is calm, decent, considerate and encouraging. It saddens me that Robinson High School will lose someone who, in my experience (and I’m a picky, critical person) treats others with respect. It seems like an extreme reaction on the part of the school, tho’ we may not know the whole story. The Clayton Joyner I’ve seen is a fabulous, careful coach; I have seen nothing in the time I have known him that would suggest he would tolerate hazing if he knew about it.
It is amazing that anyone affiliated with Robinson would actually utter the words “learn to be accountable for your actions”, in reference to school aged children. Your leadership/administration is nothing but cronies and white collar criminals with blazing conflicts of interest, so really model the behavior before you open your mouth, you have got to be kidding???
Wow…pretty amazed at many of the comments – not agreeing that the Coaches should be fired, I don’t… but just becasue the behavior has happened in the past doesn’t make it acceptable (as stated in an earlier response)….and I also noticed that not 1 time was anything mentioned about the students taking any responsibility for their actions! They all know the expectations, theya re stated every year. And we wonder why our kids have their parents fight all their battles?????? They know anything goes and that there is always a way out….ridiculous