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It's time to clear the air on inquiry into athletics

In February, Hernando County Schools Superintendent Wendy Tellone said she was going to instruct her staff to launch a comprehensive "audit" of all high school athletic departments to ensure they were not violating state rules governing the recruitment of athletes.

That internal inquiry would be launched as the Florida High School Athletic Association began an investigation into specific allegations against Nature Coast Technical High School, and be completed in "a matter of weeks," Tellone predicted.

On Aug. 3, the state submitted its findings, fined Nature Coast $1,250 and placed the school on probation for three years.

Only then did the public learn that Tellone's "audit," almost six months in the making, is not complete, and that her staff has been waiting for the state to release its report before carrying on with its own. What's more, even though football practice began two weeks ago and school is in session, it may be another month before that report is finished.

Since this apparently isn't a priority for Tellone, it's time for members of the School Board to make her understand that, given the bitterness this controversy has spawned between Nature Coast and the other high schools, it needs more immediate closure. The hostility, evident even before Nature Coast officials initially denied wrongdoing and threatened to sue their accusers, should not be allowed to fester.

The public's interest in this matter, which has been cloaked in secrecy throughout the process, is practical. While there is now proof that Nature Coast erred, whether through ignorance or intent, rumors are rife that infractions may have occurred at other high schools.

That gossip needs to be reconciled one way or the other, for the sake of the other schools' athletic staff and the credibility of the Hernando County Athletic Conference.

This cloud has hung too long over the school district's athletic staff, the athletes and their parents. The board should instruct Tellone to expedite the "audit." It was her idea and it is her obligation to see it through.

[Last modified August 15, 2006, 07:16:04]