Trustees of Centinela Schools Reject Coach’s Defamation Complaint

The Centinela Valley Union High School District Board of Trustees has unanimously rejected a defamation and emotional distress claim that was filed against the district Oct. 27 by a Hawthorne High School track coach and business teacher.

In the claim Kye Courtney, a 20-year district employee, charges that, among other things, Supt. McKinley Nash led a conspiracy intended to ruin Courtney’s reputation by spreading slanderous rumors.

The claim was rejected by the board during a special meeting Thursday night.

Named in the claim are the district; the school board; Nash; former board member Aleta Collins; Dorothy Williamson, a job placement counselor, and Stennis Floyd, an activist in Hawthorne. Courtney is seeking $6 million from each of the individuals.

In interviews shortly after the claim was filed, all four individuals named in the claim and an attorney representing the district strongly denied the charges.

With his claim rejected, Courtney now has six months to file a lawsuit.

Courtney said in an interview that he was harassed and slandered because of his popularity among teachers and parents and because he supported the ouster of Nash and opposed the reelection of three ardent Nash supporters in last month’s elections.

“They want me out,” he said.

Courtney, who is white, alleges in the 21-page claim that Williamson and Floyd, both members of the Black Heritage Assn., telephoned the mother of a track team member in September and falsely told her that Courtney is a member of the Ku Klux Klan and owns a bar in Hawthorne where Klan meetings are held. Courtney said he believes the Black Heritage Assn., which is based on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, is being used by Nash for his political benefit.

Courtney said he has never belonged to the Klan and that he does not own a bar, although he said he patronizes a bar in Hawthorne that is owned by a friend of his.

Williamson denied the charges but declined to comment further.

Floyd dismissed the allegations and said that the main objective of the Black Heritage Assn. is to improve education. “This group is only here to help the children. That’s all,” he said.

Nash said he has taken no part in any campaign to defame Courtney, and has had no contact with him since naming Courtney acting assistant principal of Hawthorne High School last year.

“Other than that, I have no knowledge of Mr. Courtney,” he said. “. . . . I think he ought to re-examine what he is saying.”

Collins, who lost a bid for reelection to the board last month, declined comment, referring questions to the district’s lawyer, Melanie Lomax.

Lomax said the claim was a thinly veiled attempt by Courtney to embarrass the administration and the board members who were running for reelection.

“The timing of this is such that you cannot ignore the connection with the November election,” she said.

However, Courtney asserted that the filing of the claim shortly before the Nov. 7 elections was coincidental.

The claim, which was presented to the district 12 days before the Board of Education elections, was filed at a time of heightened racial tension in the district. There has been continuing friction between the district’s predominantly white teachers’ association and some minority administrators, who have been hired and promoted by Nash since he became superintendent in 1984. The district’s students are predominantly Latino.

A former dean of students, Courtney is best known in the district for leading the high school track team to seven straight state championships and 11 CIF Southern Section divisional championships in the past eight years.

He insisted that he is not a racist and said that he has worked with black track members for years and has never been accused of racism by the students or their parents.

“I don’t care if a kid is black, blue or polka-dotted,” he said.

Courtney’s claim names the district and the board because Courtney alleges Nash, Collins and Williamson were acting as agents of the school district in the alleged conspiracy.

In addition to the Ku Klux Klan allegation, the claim charges that the effort to defame Courtney includes an incident in June, when he applied for the permanent position of assistant principal. Courtney held the post for a year on a temporary basis.

The claim alleges that Assistant Principal Lucia Peele told a member of the selection panel that Hawthorne High School Principal Ken Crowe opposed the selection of Courtney. Courtney did not get the job.

In an interview, Peele denied the allegation and declined to comment further.

Courtney also alleges that Collins told reporters at a school board meeting that he was gathering campaign funds for her opponents by “spreading racist allegations.”

Courtney acknowledged that he told a group of teachers to support the challengers and to give $1,000 to their campaigns “if you hate (the incumbents) enough.” But he said he never raised the issue of race when he asked for donations.

At the time the claim was filed, Lomax, the district’s lawyer, characterized it as an attempt to divert attention from allegations that Courtney may have been involved in illegally recruiting track members from adjacent districts.

In a press release issued Oct. 31, Nash said officials at the Inglewood School District filed a complaint that prompted the Centinela district to investigate alleged recruiting violations at Hawthorne High School.

In an interview last week, Lomax said she has investigated the allegations and issued a report to the board concluding that “there appears that there have been instances of illegal recruitment activity.” Asked if the report implicates Courtney, she said she could not discuss that.

She said the violations consisted of instances in which “the records of the school district appeared to have been falsified” to show that certain track team members lived within the district when, in fact, they did not.

Lomax said it is now up to the school board members and the superintendent to decide what to do about the allegations.

“They are at this point trying to assess responsibility for what . . . appear to be clear violations,” Lomax said.

In an interview a month ago, Courtney said: “No one has ever accused me of illegal recruiting. You can call anyone at the CIF.”

Dean Crowley, associate commissioner of the California Interscholastic Federation’s Southern Section, said that in the past five years the CIF has investigated at least three complaints of illegal recruitment at Hawthorne High School. But, he said, “nothing has ever been proven.”

He added that it is normal for a successful athletic program to prompt complaints from rival schools of illegal recruiting.

As for the allegations being investigated by the Centinela school district, Crowley said he has not been notified about any investigation--which he said would be the regular procedure.

“I don’t know of any investigation. . . . You would suspect we would be informed,” he said.

Times Staff Writer George Hatch contributed to this story.