District Attorney Neal Pinkston on Thursday afternoon released a scathing report on Hamilton County School failures to address serious problems of hazing and bullying.

The 23-page report was especially critical of former Supt. Rick Smith, who resigned in the aftermath of an incident at a cabin in Gatlinburg in which four freshman members of the boys basketball team were assaulted with pool cues. One, who was critically injured, has filed a federal lawsuit against the county schools.

Dr. Kirk Kelly, interim superintendent, said after the report was released, "As superintendent my top priority is ensuring the safety of all 43,000 students in our Hamilton County public schools.

"Late this afternoon, District Attorney Neil Pinkston released a report detailing his findings about the incident that occurred last December. We are in the process of reviewing this report and will determine additional steps as we continue to improve our district.

"We have already made significant changes in our district over the past six months including new and stricter policies, stronger training for our employees about abuse reporting, and a more comprehensive approach to crisis management and communications. However, the report may provide us an additional opportunity to enhance our practices, provide better support and safety for all students moving forward.

"While this has been a difficult time for many, I believe we will be better positioned in the future by having taken the right training path, creating greater awareness of appropriate behavior and encouraging the sharing of timely information."

The report says the Gatlinburg trip did not get approval from the school board, but the team was allowed to go anyway by principal Jim Jarvis. The DA said principal Jarvis was not cooperative with the investigation. He is no longer at OHS.

DA Pinkston said after reports of the Gatlinburg incident that his office began an investigation and began to receive hundreds of complaints "of being ignored, or worse, being intentionally refused attention by school personnel across the board, from the classroom to the central office."

Of the Gatlinburg trip it says the players were left alone for several hours while the coaches went "grocery shopping." It says the freshman players were not only poked in the rectum with the pool cue, but were also beaten with the stick.

It says, "The lack of supervision continued even after the coaches were aware of the seriousness of the attacks." It says coach Andre Montgomery told the players not to tell anyone about the incident and that the coach's wife failed to preserve evidence at the scene.

The district attorney said Montgomery "attempted to grossly minimize the situation." He said the freshman who was seriously injured was first going to be sent home, then he collapsed and had to be taken back to the hospital. It says the incident would not have been reported to authorities except for medical personnel at the hospital notifying police.

It says, "At no time did anyone with Ooltewah High School or the Hamilton County school system notify the police, Juvenile Court, or the state Department of Children's Services, as is required by law. Yet during a January press conference Supt. Rick Smith told reporters that no adults did anything wrong."

The report says there is "a glaring lack of training by HCDE regarding the duty to report suspected or actual child abuse and child sexual abuse."

It says Ooltewah High Asst. Principal Jesse Nayadley, who was in Gatlinburg for the basketball tournament, had "no idea" what a mandatory reporter is. It says volunteers get no training whatsoever.

The DA said the county school administration should have immediately ended the trip, but instead let the team play on. It says parents were not immediately notified and neither OHS or central office administrators "acknowledged the seriousness of the attacks."

DA Pinkston said, "There is no indication Supt. Smith took his duty to manage the crisis seriously. It is unclear why he did not immediately take action to learn the details of the attacks or take the lead in HCDE's response to the attacks. , , Further, Mr. Smith failed to make a sincere effort to contact any of the parents of the victims or other players on the trip. He also failed to create and foster an open line of communication with the family of the hospitalized player."

The report found that freshmen on the OHS varsity basketball team were subjected to repeated assaults under the guise of "hazing." It says several parents complained in October 2015 about the hazing, but nothing was done.

It says the "pervasive predatory attitude among athletes at OHS still exists." One of the victims of the January assaults, now a sophomore at a private school, recently called his mother to be picked up early because he feared for his safety.

Click here to read the full report.



