Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 18, 1995 TAG: 9508180032
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WOODBRIDGE LENGTH: Short
Investigators at Brentsville District High School spent a month probing the state champions' use of a symbol called ``the well,'' a circle divided into quarters by a cross.
The drawing looks like four hooded Klansmen looking down a hole. It also resembles the Celtic cross used by the Klan and other white supremacist groups. Team members scratched the symbol in the dirt before games for luck.
The eight-member School Board on Wednesday ordered multicultural training for all students, faculty and staff at the Nokesville school, about 30 miles southwest of Washington. The team coach and an assistant coach will receive reprimands but will not be fired, Superintendent Edward L. Kelly said.
``This type of racism will not be tolerated,'' said School Board Chairwoman Lucy Beauchamp. ``However, the investigation could not bear out that the team or the coaches knew the meaning of the symbol.''
The Potomac News, which first reported on the ritual, Thursday published a transcript of a taped interview with assistant coach Matt Ondrof that suggests he knew the meaning of the symbol.
``I think that was last year's group that told me,'' Ondrof said in the July 9 interview, the newspaper said.
According to Kelly's report on the investigation, Ondrof said he never knew the meaning of the symbol and the newspaper mischaracterized his comments.
Beauchamp declined to comment on the taped conversation because she had not heard it. The tape was not released to school investigators.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.