Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 12, 1995 TAG: 9509120050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NOKESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
School officials have recommended that assistant coach Matt Ondrof of Brentsville District High School be fired for failing to stop players from scratching an ``X'' inside a circle in the dirt near the dugout.
The symbol's use became known when the Potomac News reported that Ondrof and several players knew the symbol represented four Ku Klux Klansmen looking at a black person they'd thrown down a well.
Ondrof, 27, has appealed his firing, and in three weeks, the county School Board is scheduled to hold its first-ever public hearing on the dismissal of a faculty member. Ondrof teaches English at the school.
Prince William County school Superintendent Edward L. Kelly will argue that evidence shows that team members had told Ondrof that their good luck ritual depicted members of the Ku Klux Klan but that he did nothing to stop its use.
``The issue is ... he allowed youngsters to continue to use a racist symbol knowing what that symbol meant and, as a teacher, his obligation is to say, `No, I'm not going to let you do that because that's not right,' and he didn't do that,'' Kelly said in an interview with the Washington Post last week.
Ondrof and his lawyers will try to show that his tape-recorded interview with the newspaper, which Kelly listened to before recommending the teacher's termination, is incomplete and that his remarks have been taken out of context.
Many students are rallying to Ondrof's cause, while admitting the campus has not always welcomed blacks. Brentsville is 94 percent white. Some residents have put up signs along roads protesting the recommendation that Ondrof be fired.
Some teachers and many students say there are no racial tensions at the school. Last year's homecoming queen was black, they said, and some minority students say they've had no problems.
``As long as you don't say any slurs to anyone else, they won't say anything to you,'' said senior Deon Burke, who is black.
But sophomore David Galloway said he is regularly taunted because he's black. When he was running for class vice president last year, he said, classmates told him he should be ``hanging from a rope'' instead.
``I just keep on ignoring it,'' he said.
Some minority students also are defending Ondrof. A letter signed by more than a dozen minority students says they see Ondrof as a role model and that they do not find him to be racist.
Basla Andolsun, a junior of Turkish heritage, said Ondrof never would let racist or sexist comments go unchallenged in his class. And she remembers his encouragement when she wanted to learn more about civil rights; he suggested she read ``The Autobiography of Malcolm X.''
Supporters also point out that Ondrof, who also coached girls' basketball, chose minority captains for the team the last couple of years.
Memo: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.