The director of student activities at Hayfield High School, Monty Fritts, has submitted his intent to resign, News4 has confirmed.
One day before Hayfield Secondary School was set to square off against Fairfax High on the Gridiron, Hayfield's principal decided to pull the plug on the football team for the rest of the playoffs.
Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid released a new statement about Hayfield’s season ending.
She said, “My decision to withdraw the hayfield hawks from the playoffs was made with students at the center. … [we will] work immediately to secure experts to conduct a comprehensive, external review and a thorough assessment of our internal protocols and procedures regarding recruiting and transfer residency.”
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The announcement the team would be pulled came from the FCPS superintendent after she said she was made aware of text messages about recruitment efforts at the school.
On Tuesday, the Virginia High School League announced that Tuesday night’s football game between Hayfield and Fairfax is cancelled following Hayfield’s decision, which means Fairfax High School will play the winner of Tuesday night’s Lake Braddock vs West Springfield game.
“It was the right thing to do, but also equally frustrated because it never should have gone that far in the first place and now there’s a lot of student athletes who won’t be able to finish their season as they should have,” said Stacey Cash, the president of the Fairfax County High School Athletic Booster Club.
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She said she has mixed feelings about the league’s move to advance the team to the next round.
“I think that’s a little bit troubling as well right, because of course our team wants to do it in the same way that everyone else did it in a fair and equitable manner so it feels a little unjust,” Cash said.
Throughout the year Hayfield dominated opponents regularly. In their first playoff game last week, the team won by 68 points.
Initially, the Virginia High School League banned the team from postseason play for two years following an investigation into recruitment by Head Coach Darryl Overton, but a Fairfax County judge granted a temporary injunction allowing the team to play last Thursday.
Several booster clubs joined forces to send letters out to Superintendent Michelle Reid and the FCPS school board asking that the board conduct an independent investigation immediately, implement accountability measures and policy reforms to prevent future incidents.
“I feel really bad for the student athletes,” said Ron Blesdoe, the president of the South County High School Athletic Booster Club. “It’s been an emotional rollercoaster this later part of the fall season.”
“My heart goes out to all the players,” said Ami Durand, a parent at South County High School. “Even the Hayfield players because I think it just added to the confusion, and it’s quite far from over.”
The attorney representing Hayfield parents issued this statement to News4 that reads in part, “I just know that the parents are heartbroken for their kids and trying to make sense of all of this. I understand it was FCPS’ decision to make.”
