The Urban Think Tank of Buffalo, Bennett High School parents, Buffalo Public Schools board members, and more convened to voice their displeasure with high school sports officiating Thursday at the Mount Olive Baptist Church and pointed to a lack of diversity and accountability.
The news conference came as a result of the controversy involving the Bennett football team’s loss to Christian Brothers Academy in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class AA semifinals Nov. 25 at Cicero-North Syracuse High School.
“From my perspective, I want accountability,” Ferry District Representative Sharon Belton-Cottman said. “As the School Board representative of the Ferry District, Bennett is under my watch. Section VI receives close to $90,000 a year, and that money is sent to them for there to be representation of us. However, there was no representation available to us on that day.”
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Section VI officials did not respond to a request for comment.
“The New York State Public High School Athletic Association has been made aware of a press conference hosted today by Buffalo community members,” the NYSPHSAA said in a statement to The News. “It is the understanding of NYSPHSAA the focus of the press conference was to urge the NYSPHSAA, the New York State Education Department, and the Board of Regents to address ongoing and historical disparities in high school sports officiating. NYSPHSAA was not invited to the press conference nor has any record from the event been provided to NYSPHSAA leadership.
“As of today, NYSPHSAA’s Executive Director, Dr. Robert Zayas, has responded to one inquiry from Buffalo Public Schools administration pertaining to the selection process for post season officials. Dr. Zayas did not receive any follow-up questions from school district officials related to this topic. As a membership-led organization, Dr. Zayas continues to make himself available to respond to questions from member schools and welcomes any opportunity to meet with school district officials to address concerns involving interscholastic athletics.”
With 1:57 remaining in the second quarter, three flags were called against the Tigers, which led to a failed protest attempt and a more than one-hour delay as the teams returned to their locker rooms.
Buffalo Public Schools Assistant Superintendent of Athletics Michael House and Bennett coach Steve McDuffie voiced their displeasure to officials because they felt CBA coaches were being allowed on the field to coach their players without penalty, but when the Tigers tried to do the same, a flag was thrown.
McDuffie, House and assistant coach DJuan Todd filed a police report with the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, alleging that McDuffie was “assaulted” by a deputy when police were called on the field. The Sheriff’s Office refuted the allegation and then asked the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office to determine whether McDuffie, House and Todd should be charged with filing a false report.
Cottman pointed out the microaggressions Bennett faced, such as the officials going over to Brothers coach Casey Brown and shaking his hand, but not doing so for McDuffie. Cottman also alleges the venue violated Title IX by not having a locker room available for the Bennett cheerleaders to change in and telling them to do so in the bathroom.
“Under Title IX, that is a major violation,” Cottman said.
Cottman is calling for New York State Attorney General Letitia James and federal education officials to look into what’s happening in sports across the state, citing “multiple civil rights violations.”
“There’s no reason why adults being handsomely paid in most situations aren’t being held accountable to make sure unfair disadvantages don’t happen,” Cottman said. “There is a problem going on with how students in the Ferry District are being treated, and it’s not just at Bennett. There’s a national problem and a statewide problem, and New York State needs to fix this problem. It’s unacceptable that this continues to happen, and there’s no accountability.”
Samuel Radford, a leader in the Urban Think Tank, says a letter will be sent to the New York State Education Department to ask for the Board of Regents to monitor if there’s a fair process regarding how officials are assigned to games.
“Let’s come up with a process to make sure that we get fairly called games,” Radford said. “That means we need to evaluate referees and see how good they are in other sports and the best referees from the regular season should be taken to the playoffs. We just want a process to make sure that we get to a fair place. We want all of that to be public record.”
Bennett has five players with Division I scholarships, and over the last few years has produced multiple collegiate athletes, including Green Bay Packers linebacker Isaiah McDuffie.
Bishop Michael Badger of Buffalo’s Urban Think Tank began his statement with “follow the money,” and claimed the Tigers were having possible opportunities of being exposed to college coaches taken away.
“Our children have not had the opportunity to play in these types of games for a long time,” Badger said. “When we’ve gotten the opportunity, we’re seeing our kids get Division I scholarships. This game [the semifinal game] meant there would be scouts there and the championship game, where these kids would get the opportunity to have college coaches look at them for a scholarship … our children have this opportunity to their talents to be seen and they were robbed of it.”
No diversity statistics are available regarding New York State and Section VI officials, and that’s what Bennett coaches noted in the semifinals and that point was made Thursday by Badger.
“In 2023, we have to have diversity,” Badger said. “We want to see diversity, and to have six white men that were handpicked and no representation of the kids on the field shouldn’t happen in 2023. We’re saying, as the Urban Think Tank, we can no longer tolerate this unfairness with our children. We’re going to fight for our children but won’t allow them to be cheated.”