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BARBARA BEHRENDTCrystal River High School baseball program's connection with the private Dixie League is the new focus in a continuing investigation.
CRYSTAL RIVER - State high school athletic regulators are seeking additional information on the Crystal River High School baseball program, and this time they are focusing on the school's relationship with the Crystal River Dixie League.
In response to a series of stories about the program and baseball coach Brent Hall in the St. Petersburg Times, school superintendent David Hickey asked for a full investigation by the Florida High School Activities Association. School Board members asked their attorney, Richard "Spike" Fitzpatrick, to conduct a review on their behalf.
Fitzpatrick said Monday that, while he had not yet completed his investigation, he hoped it would be done by today's regular board meeting and he intended to present his findings.
That report will not include details of any disciplinary actions against employees, however. State law allows school district employees 10 days to respond to anything negative resulting from an investigation.
While Fitzpatrick's investigation could result in discipline against employees or other actions related to district policies, the high school activities association's investigation could result in sanctions against the baseball program or the overall athletic program at Crystal River High.
That possibility takes on greater meaning since the team has advanced to the region final tonight. If the teams wins, it will get its second trip in a row to the state Final Four.
For its part, the FHSAA sent a letter to the school several weeks ago asking about issues ranging from Christmas baseball camps to students attending the school from outside the Crystal River attendance zone.
After receiving the school's responses last week, W. Daniel Boyd, Jr., associate commissioner for the FHSAA, sent another letter seeking additional information. Principal Steve Myers has not yet responded, and no deadline for a response was given in the letter.
In this request, the FHSAA asks for information about who established the Crystal River Dixie League, when it was formed and its relationships with Hall and the school.
The Dixie League is a private league separate from the school, but last year nearly all the players on the Dixie Team, which is also called the Pirates, were Hall's high school players.
Boyd, citing a flier that outlined fundraising activities planned for the school's 2000-01 baseball program, asked for similar literature sent to parents and players in the past two years. The 2000-01 literature said team members should bring four campers to the program's 2000 Christmas baseball camp. Hall conducted that camp, which is a violation of FHSAA rules. He has said that the Dixie League held Christmas camps in 2001 and 2002 and that he was not involved in those camps.
But literature about the 2002 camp distributed at the Crystal River Mall just before the Christmas break uses Hall as the main selling point, notes that camp participants must hold Hall harmless in case of injury and asks that camp fees be paid to Hall's wife, Jenny, and mailed to the couple's Lecanto home.
In an interview with the Times, Hall did not question the flier's authenticity but said that one reference to him as the person who led the Dixie League to back-to-back Florida State Championships in 2001 and 2002 was a typographical error. He has said he had no involvement with the Dixie League in 2001.
In a subsequent interview, he said the comments were just his ego trying to take credit for a winning team which he was not coaching.
A flier about that same camp was sent by the school as part of the first packet to Boyd last week. That flier contradicts the fliers distributed at the mall by saying the camp was sponsored by the Dixie League and that fees were to be paid to the league.
In his latest request, Boyd also asked where the 2001 and 2002 Christmas camps were held and whether the league signed a contract with the school if either or both camps were held at Crystal River High.
The April 6 Times report detailed information about the camps, described Hall's use of his players to drum up customers for his private business and his two-year use of an expensive car provided to him free of charge by the father of one of his players, and noted the high number of Pirates' players who live outside the Crystal River school zone.
The articles also pointed out that the baseball team spent much more than the softball team, which could violate federal gender equity requirements.
A subsequent report showed that, to ensure equity, CRHS principal Steven Myers instructed the school's softball coach to nearly double the number of students she was taking to Orlando, which created a shortfall in the softball booster account. The coach, second-year teacher Lanna Hough, got $3,600 from her father, then created receipts showing individual students had raised the money in a March hit-a-thon.
Myers is also under scrutiny for his oversight of the program and for failing to report the donation of a sprinkler system valued at $20,000 to the baseball field.
While other teachers have already been reappointed for next school year and other principals are set for reappointment today, recommendations on the reappointment of Hall and Myers are on hold until the conclusion of the inquiries.
- Times staff writer Collins Conner contributed to this report. Barbara Behrendt can be reached at 564-3621 or behrendt@sptimes.com