Page 25 - Florida Sentinel 10-13-17

Local Players Suspended After Fight At Football Game
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Last month, the Middle- ton High School Tigers met the Jefferson High School Dragons on the gridiron. But instead of the game being a demonstration of dominance on the field, it turned into a free-for-all battle.
Officials stopped the game with four minutes and 11 seconds left in the third quarter because of the melee. Coaches and administrators from both schools attempted to stop the brawl. It took sev- eral minutes to bring every- thing under control.
After the school district began handing out suspen- sions, some members of the community said that only the African Americans were being suspended.
In response to the accu- sations, Ms. Tanya Arja, spokeswoman for the Hills-
This photograph taken from the Tampa Bay Times webpage shows members from both schools participating in the fight.
were separating players and not part of the fight. There may be other students who were involved in the fight, but if we do not have clear evidence – from the video, the referees, or the district staff on the field – we cannot take action,” Ms. Arja said.
In the final analysis, 2 students from Middleton High School and 1 student from Jefferson High School were suspended by the Hills- borough County School Dis- trict. The number of days of the suspensions were not re- leased.
The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) also issued suspen- sions from athletic competi- tion based on state guidelines. That organiza- tion issued suspensions to 4 Jefferson High School stu- dents and 16 Middleton High School students based on the evidence.
borough County School Dis- trict provided the following statement:
“Students were disci- plined based on the clearly identifiable actions they took and by identifying the num- bers on their jerseys. We be- lieve we were fair and equitable and treated all stu- dents, regardless of race, ac- cordingly.
“The students who re-
ceived school suspensions are those we can clearly iden- tify in the video as taking ac- tions that warrant discipline.
“The administrators at the school and our district athletic director reviewed the video frame-by-frame, along with information from the referees on the field, to deter- mine suspensions. The ad- ministrators at FHSAA are reviewing the situation and
will determine whether play- ers will be prohibited from future games.
“Still photos can only be used for review if they clearly show actual contact. Other- wise, still photos do not show any context; we cannot tell what occurred just before or just after the photo was taken.
“It is clear from the video that some student-athletes
First Annual ‘Diversity Day’ At USF A Success
Videos Sought For 2nd Annual National FAM Awards
For The Family is celebrat- ing the good actions and kind deeds of people that happen all around us.
The 2nd Annual National FAM Awards honors them the way the Academy Awards rec- ognizes actors. It’s easy to nominate someone as the Par- ent, Son/ Daughter, Sister/Brother, or Family Vol- unteer of the Year.
Just describe why they de- serve to win in a 1-minute video, and e-mail it to ForThe- FamilyTampa@gmail.com by Friday, November 3. Be sure
to include your name, the name of the person you’re nominating, and your phone number.
The winner in each cate- gory receives a gift card and the Family Flame Award. Each runner-up wins a smaller gift card, and the 3rd prize is a gift card.
The Awards Ceremony is Friday, November 17 at the Children’s Board of Hillsbor- ough County. It will be streamed live on Facebook/ForTheFamily- Tampa. Every nominee will be
honored on Facebook and on the agency’s YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/ch annel/UCjaXI7bsZ- FUhRNbd6auaCXA/videos.
Ward Cox is Administra- tor of For The Family, and he says, “It’s about time to realize that our community is built on kindness. We can’t surrender to the bad things that are going on because good is always more powerful. This is a great way to get back to what’s real. In fact, videos are being sub- mitted from across the country to get that point across.
Ms. Terrie Daniel, Assistant Vice President of Supplier Diver- sity, USF, center, is shown with vendors at the USF Diversity Day event.
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Last Friday, the Univer- sity of South Florida hosted its First Annual Supplier Di- versity Day. Ms. Terrie Daniel, Assistant Vice Presi- dent of Supplier Diversity, at the University of South Florida, has deemed the event a success.
Ms. Daniel had planned on accommodating about 100 Tampa Bay Area businesses owned by women, minorities, and veterans. More than 70 exhibitors were on hand who had an opportunity to meet key contacts in the USF sys- tem and forge new relation- ships with them.
Ms. Daniel said, “USF is a huge economic driver in this region, and we want to invest
back into our community. The Tampa Bay region has an amazing, diverse business community ready and able to do work with USF and 100 percent committed to in- creasing our utilization of di- verse-owned businesses.”
Ms. Terrie Daniel was hired in April in the inaugural position of Assistant Vice President of Supplier Diver- sity. Her role is to oversee the Supplier Diversity Program. Ms. Daniel has imple- mented training programs for university employees to fur- ther educate them on best practices for involving minor- ity, women, and veteran- owned businesses in the procurement of goods and supplies, construction, pro- fessional services, and other contracts.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2017 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 13-A