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| Coach Michael Shortt |
The Cleburne County Board of Education went into executive
session Wednesday to discuss an
allegation that head football coach Michael Shortt made a racially charged
comment during a pep talk to his team.
The Cleburne County High School library was filled with more
than 70 people ready to discuss the issue. But Board Chairman Jerry Cash told
them before the meeting began that the board would only discuss the issue in
closed session to protect the name and character of the people involved, which
is allowed under the law.
The executive session didn’t end until 12:30 a.m. Thursday
morning, at which time Cash declared the body adjourned without taking any
action and that it would reconvene in regular session March 2.
Early in the proceedings inside the library of Cleburne
County High School, Cash invited people to sign up to speak to board members,
one invitee at a time, in the executive session. At least nine people addressed
the board.
Superintendent Claire Dryden told the people gathered that
she would be happy to meet with people to discuss what she could.
She scheduled a meeting at 6 p.m. on Friday at the school.
Wednesday’s meeting allowed the board to hear from the
public about a recording of Shortt that had circulated through the community.
The recording showed the coach giving a pep talk to the team before a game. One
of his comments was a warning that team members could be called a racial slur
by players from the other team. In the video, he used the slur when giving the
warning.
“This incident
happened Oct. 30, 2014
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