Vista High School is forfeiting all football games Friday and has scratched after-school activities for the rest of the week as fallout continues following allegations of misconduct by football players against a 14-year-old boy.
On Thursday, school principal David Jaffe sent a letter to Vista High parents saying the cancellations were done out of an abundance of caution. He also said the campus would close at 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday.
Vista Unified School District Superintendent Matt Doyle said in an email that three students had been “disciplined,” meaning they were removed from the football team and suspended from the school.
Public uproar has grown with the spread of a video — widely seen on social media — depicting an incident two weeks ago involving a 14-year-old boy in the varsity football team’s locker room.
The incident was one of two reported to the county Sheriff’s Department involving possible student misconduct at the school on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1. The department’s investigation is ongoing.
In the video, the 14-year-old boy, who is shirtless and wearing shorts and socks, is picked up and carried into a room where he is pushed to the floor. He is surrounded by other teens, one of whom is holding what looks like a wooden broom handle. It is unclear what, if anything, is done with it.
The video ends with someone helping the boy up and shoving him out of the room.
Sheriff’s officials are investigating the incident as a possible battery, and said the boy was not sexually assaulted.
Jaffe said school and district administrators worked with football coaches and “made the difficult decision” to cancel the upcoming football game against Poway — which he said came “as a result of the behavior” at a protest Wednesday evening. Jaffe did not respond to a late afternoon email asking him to elaborate.
More than 100 people gathered Wednesday on the school’s front lawn, waving signs and chanting demands for accountability and justice. The protesters marched along sidewalks, occasionally slowing or blocking traffic.
NBC San Diego showed footage of several protesters surrounding a car in the school parking lot. The station reported that a football player was in the car as some protesters kicked or hit the vehicle. The station also had footage of sheriff’s deputies arriving on campus.
A sheriff’s official said Wednesday night that no one was arrested as a result of the protest.
Vista head football coach Dave Bottom has been placed on leave and a part-time coach has been released as school officials investigate the incident, a school official confirmed.
The forfeiture of Friday’s game means the varsity Panthers team will lose a nonleague football game against No. 6-ranked Poway High School. Vista has forfeited at all three levels — varsity, JV and freshmen.
Poway moves to 5-0 with the victory. Vista moves to 0-5, the first time the Panthers have opened a season with five straight losses since 1990.
Staff writers John Maffei and Kristen Taketa contributed to this report.
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