Father Who Threatened Coach Sentenced

The angry Woodland Hills father who threatened his son’s baseball coach was sentenced Wednesday to 100 hours of community service and banished from all Taft High School sports events for one year.

Ronald Clebanoff, 38, was sentenced by Van Nuys Municipal Court Commissioner Mitchell Block after he pleaded no contest to one count of disturbing the peace on school grounds, said Mike Qualls, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney’s office.

Clebanoff was also sentenced to one year’s probation, including a ban from Birmingham and Chatsworth high schools--where the confrontations occurred--and an order to stay away from the victims, according to the city attorney’s office.

“The judge called the shot and that’s it,” said Clebanoff’s attorney, Jack Murphy.

Neither Clebanoff nor Taft High School officials could be reached for comment.

The case stemmed from two spring confrontations between Clebanoff and Edmund Gunny, Taft’s junior varsity baseball coach.

In previous interviews, Clebanoff, a self-described enthusiastic spectator, contended that Gunny’s verbal abuse toward his 15-year-old freshman son and other players on Taft’s baseball team was the reason he decided to confront the coach.

On April 15, Clebanoff got in an argument with Gunny at a game being held at Birmingham High, according to the city attorney’s office. The game was momentarily stopped by the umpire because of the disturbance.

Elijah Richardson, the deputy city attorney who prosecuted the case, said Ron Berz, Taft High’s principal, sent a letter to Clebanoff on April 17, banning him from future games.

But Clebanoff attended the April 22 game at Chatsworth High anyway. School officials complained that Clebanoff once again charged onto the field, swore and threatened to physically harm Gunny and an assistant coach.

School police arrested Clebanoff on April 25. He spent six days in jail before being released on his own recognizance, Qualls said.

During a pretrial hearing May 6, Clebanoff vowed to fight the charges, saying he would bring to the stand other parents who would support his allegations that Gunny was a verbally abusive coach.

“I’m going to stick to my guns,” Gunny said. “All I was doing was protecting my child.”

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Confrontations between parents and school officials rarely require legal action, according to Howard Friedman, the assistant general counsel for the LAUSD, pointing to just one other case similar to Clebanoff’s in his 17-year stint with the district.

Disruptive parents usually obey letters from principals banning them from school events, Friedman said.

“By and large most parents are responsible and set a good example,” he said.