Why didn’t officiating crew intervene during racist incident at Stanwood football game?

The referee of a high school football game at Stanwood last Friday, where Lakes High School players and cheerleaders said they were subject to racial slurs, said his crew didn’t intervene because they heard no taunts and received no complaints.

The News Tribune reached Steve Jensen — the head referee of the crew that officiated the Stanwood game — by phone Tuesday morning. Did he or his crew hear any racial or discriminatory language?

“Zero,” said Jensen, who has been an official for 36 years and is the assignor for football refs in Snohomish County.

Jensen also said he never received a complaint from anyone on the Lakes coaching staff.

“I want to make sure this is really, really clear: Nothing ever during the game was brought to our attention,” Jensen said. “If it was, we would have dealt with it with the proper channels of protocol.”

Multiple Lakes coaches said they did indeed complain to officials about the racist language during the game. If another official who wasn’t the head referee — a side-judge, for instance — received the complaints from the Lakes coaching staff, it would’ve been that official’s responsibility to relay those complaints to the referee.

“The side judge was never informed of any of these allegations,” Jensen told The News Tribune.

Todd Stordahl, the executive director of the Washington Officials Association, said that when a complaint of racial or discriminatory language is brought forth by coaches, the protocol includes stopping the game and calling both head coaches for a meeting, telling them what’s happening and issuing a warning.

“If it happens a second time, we follow the same procedure,” Stordahl said. “If it happens a third time, the game management (school athletic directors) and officials decide, ‘do we continue the with the game or suspend the game and let the school administrators deal with the outcome?’”

Jensen said if an official personally sees and hears a player using a racial slur toward an opponent, the official has the authority to issue a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and eject the player from the game on the spot.

RACIAL SLURS LOBBED ON AND OFF THE FIELD

Several witnesses at the game said Lakes’ cheerleaders and players were called the n-word by students and players from Stanwood. In a Facebook post, Claire Dade Johnson said her daughter, a cheerleader for Lakes High School, was called the n-word in the girls bathroom by Stanwood students.

Reached by phone on Monday morning, Dade Johnson said multiple girls followed her daughter and other Lakes cheerleaders into the girls bathroom, looked at them and called them “f-ing n-words.”

“I am proud and sad to post this because as hard as we try as parents to protect our children from this type of hate, all we can do is pray for them to take the high road and choose love,” Johnson wrote in the post.

In another Facebook post, Lakes assistant coach Kory Eggenberger, who grew up in Stanwood, detailed some of racial abuse that was directed toward the Lakes players. Prior to the game, he was excited to return to his hometown.

“On the bus ride up, I was anxious & excited to step back on the field that I grew up playing on,” the Facebook post reads. “When we arrived, I walked into the stadium for the first time in over 20 years, where I immediately experienced feelings of nostalgia & memories of playing for the program that my Dad started over 30 years ago.”

Those feelings quickly dissipated, he said, when he started hearing words such as ‘Boy’ and the n-word coming from the Stanwood student section during pregame warmups. Then, it happened on the field.

“On more than 5 occasions, we had players coming to the sideline enraged from the racist remarks they were hearing from Stanwood players,” the post continues. “Our Coaching Staff informed the Referees of this language multiple times, but nothing was done to stop it. As a result, our KIDS were subjected to these taunts for the remainder of the game.”

Lakes head coach Dave Miller also confirmed on Monday that his players were subjected to racist remarks.

“It was pretty prevalent,” Miller said. “The student section was yelling the n-word at our players. Our coaches heard it throughout the game from their players. It was bad. … I hope it’s not representative of the whole community, and it’s just some isolated people that are very ignorant.”

WHAT’S THE WIAA’S ROLE IN THIS SITUATION?

An outcry for the people responsible for racist language to be held accountable also has some wondering where the response is from the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.

In an email statement to The News Tribune on Tuesday, a spokesperson from the WIAA laid out the organization’s jurisdiction in these types of situations.

“The WIAA has been in contact with both schools regarding the incident after it was reported to the Association through the Bias Reporting Form,” the statement reads. “By rule, the WIAA does not have authority to investigate, however, WIAA Staff and Executive Board are committed to serving as a resource for both schools as they address these unacceptable behaviors. Racist language and actions have no place in our schools or communities.

“Schools are recommended to use a third-party investigator to collect any and all information from the incident and report back to the administration of each school. Any disciplinary action will be handled at the school level and reviewed by league members.”

The Stanwood-Camano School District said it’s investigating the incident and provided a follow-up statement on Tuesday.

“As many of you are aware, the Stanwood-Camano School District has launched a Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying (HIB) investigation in response to an allegation of racist comments made during the Stanwood-Lakes football game Friday, Nov. 4,” the statement from Dr. Deborah Rumbaugh reads.

“As a community and district, we are committed to an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment where everyone knows they belong. Our equity policy establishes that we value mutual respect for each person regardless of individual differences or characteristics. Because we do not tolerate the behaviors reported, we are actively investigating these claims.

The investigative process takes time, and we will update you as soon as possible. We appreciate your patience, as these issues are important to our community.”