High School Brooklyn Hurricanes - Grade "Fixing" Scandal

[LordJeffBuck]

The Brooklyn High Hurricanes will forfeit all games this season because the team used an ineligble player; the player in question allegedly had his grades "fixed" by school officials. Scandalous!

WKYC.com
Jeff Maynor
October 14, 2005

BROOKLYN --The grade fixing investigation at Brooklyn High School is being called one of the most serious allegations the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) has seen in over 10 years.

The principal is accused of fixing some football players' grades so they'd be eligible to play.

Channel 3 News has learned the allegations of grade fixing involve the Brooklyn High School principal and five football players.

The names of the players allegedly involved were all in an anonymous letter to OHSAA.

After 19 straight losses over two football seasons, the Brooklyn Hurricanes needed some kind of a break.

This season, they have four wins and three losses, but if the principal fixed players grades to make them eligible, forfeits could turn a winning season to another winless season.

Principal Gretchen Derathik was sent home on administrative leave Tuesday and is not answering her door.

The principal was talking a while back in a Channel 3 News story about the Brooklyn Police drug search of her school on proficiency testing day.

She said springing the search on test day was not "fair" -- "academically."

"There's scholarship money," she said. "There's money for college, and if you don't do as well as you think you could have it's not fair."

Some players on the team say losing games to forfeit would be disappointing. But they'd be just as upset if some players were given grades everyone else had to earn.

OHSAA says the Brooklyn charges are unprecedented.

The Brooklyn Superintendent says players will be presumed "eligible until proven otherwise."

This, even though playing ineligible players could cause the Hurricanes for forfeit any wins they'd manage in their last three games.

The superintendent says he hopes to complete his investigation before the end of the season.

WKYC - 10/14/05

School to forfeit four games over ineligible player
From WKYC-TV 3 reports
October 24, 2005

BROOKLYN -- An investigation into grade fixing at Brooklyn High School will lead to that school giving up its four wins this season.

Monday morning, the school announced that an investigation found that one player had his grades changed contrary to Ohio High School Athletic Association guidelines.

A letter sent to OHSAA alleged that three students had their grades fixed improperly so that they could play football.

The investigation found that the extra credit work given to those players fell within OHSAA guidelines.

However, during the investigation, a fourth player was found to have been playing while ineligible.

This means the 4-5 Brooklyn Hurricanes will now be 0-9 with one game left to play this season.

One year ago, St. Edward High School forfeited four football games for using an ineligible player.

WKYC - 10/24/05

 

[ol104]

I played RB/CB for Brooklyn my sophmore year (1997, then transferred to Brunswick). We went 9-1 that year and won the MAC-8 Conference, over perennial powerhouse Independence. Overall, the school has had a pretty poor football tradition, but that year we were the class of the league by far...everyone associated w/ the team was a class act from the teachers, parents and administrators, apparently that has changed since my time there.

 

[LordJeffBuck]

Because Brooklyn had to forfeit four games, each of their opponents' "strength of schedule" dropped, and thus any team which beat Brooklyn now gets less "computer points" for beating Brooklyn (now an 0-9 team rather than a 4-5 team). Lutheran West, a Division V school in the Cleveland area, beat Brooklyn earlier in the season. However, because Lutheran West lost "computer points" due to Brooklyn's forfeits, Lutheran West dropped from 6th to 10th in the computer rankings, and likely will not make the playoffs this season.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Because Brooklyn had to forfeit four games, each of their opponents' "strength of schedule" dropped, and thus any team which beat Brooklyn now gets less "computer points" for beating Brooklyn (now an 0-9 team rather than a 4-5 team). Lutheran West, a Division V school in the Cleveland area, beat Brooklyn earlier in the season. However, because Lutheran West lost "computer points" due to Brooklyn's forfeits, Lutheran West dropped from 6th to 10th in the computer rankings, and likely will not make the playoffs this season.

True, but Brooklyn might (or maybe probably) would've lost those four games they won had they not used the ineligible players, so it's a wash.

 

[tedginn05]

Because Brooklyn had to forfeit four games, each of their opponents' "strength of schedule" dropped, and thus any team which beat Brooklyn now gets less "computer points" for beating Brooklyn (now an 0-9 team rather than a 4-5 team). Lutheran West, a Division V school in the Cleveland area, beat Brooklyn earlier in the season. However, because Lutheran West lost "computer points" due to Brooklyn's forfeits, Lutheran West dropped from 6th to 10th in the computer rankings, and likely will not make the playoffs this season.

In cases like that where one team gets screwed because of another team's problem it makes me pissed off. Same thing happened to my school Columbus Beechcroft last year, we went 9-1 and our only loss was to the (future) Division 2 State Champion Brookhaven who went 15-0. We came closest to beating them, we held them to a 15-2 score, while they beat teams in the playoffs by 30 points. We were in Division 3 and ranked #6 or #7 (Can't remember exactly) and it was found out that one of the teams we beat(Linden McKinley) had used a ineligable player in one of their wins, they had to fortiet and that dropped our points and dropped us to #9 and we missed out on the playoffs by half of a point. The system is flawed, i personaly think a "9-win" exemption should be made to the playoff system, were all 9 win teams and up get in, and decide with the computers who gets the other spots. Its really bad that one team won't go to the playoffs because of a fuck up by another school.