MEAD, Wash. — The Mead School District is firing its head football coach and seeking to remove him as a teacher amid a lawsuit alleging racial misconduct within the football program.
According to the school district's investigation, superintendent Travis Hanson said Keith Stamps failed to appropriately respond to allegations of student misconduct. The investigation also found that Stamps did not alert other administrative staff members about what was going on. The investigation also found that Stamps was allegedly not honest nor forthcoming with the district about the situation.
The allegations began in June 2023, when there was alleged student-to-student misconduct at an Eastern Washington University football camp, which allegedly included the use of a massage gun on a student's private area and inappropriate touching.
According to the school district's investigation, in July 2023, a parent emailed head football coach Stamps reporting the abusive behavior, where Stamps claimed to speak with multiple students about what happened and determined that no misconduct happened.
The investigation shows that in August 2023, Stamps received an email from another parent about the misconduct at the football camp. Stamps admitted to reading the email and speaking with the parent on the phone, assuring the parent that the allegations were unfounded. There were new allegations made later in the month, and according to the investigation, Stamps allegedly did not investigate those new allegations.
According to the investigation, Stamps met with a parent who brought up concerns similar to the ones reported earlier in the summer and Stamps reported the meeting to the school administration.
In February 2024, according to the investigation, central office administrators became aware of the allegations from the EWU football camp. The district met with Stamps multiple times, where according to the investigation, Stamps told them he was made aware of the misconduct in July 2023 and the allegations resurfaced later in December, omitting mentioning the August 2023 parent email.
This past May, the investigation said Stamps received a Letter of Direction for demonstrating poor judgment and not notifying parents about the reports. Later in September, Stamps was asked to sign a declaration attesting to his knowledge of events. Before signing, Stamps was informed this was his sworn account of events and it needed to be accurate. The document stated that Stamps heard nothing between the July 2023 email report and a December 2023 parent meeting, saying “During the remaining weeks of summer workouts and throughout the entire football season, nothing related to what took place at camp was brought to the attention of the coaching staff.”
A lawsuit was filed in November, referencing the email in August 2023, which by then had been deleted.
The school district said Stamps is entitled to due process rights and a hearing. If Stamps does not appeal, the school district's decision will become final.