EXCLUSIVO: Uma investigação do Departamento de Educação (ED) dos EUA descobriu que a San Jose State College (SJSU) supostamente tomou a decisão de não suspender ou demitir seu treinador principal de vôlei durante o escândalo transgênero do time em 2024, apesar das reclamações relacionadas ao Título IX contra o treinador.
As descobertas de ED, que foram fornecidas pela SJSU à Fox Information Digital em resposta a um pedido de registros públicos, sugerem que a escola supostamente considerou a atenção potencial da mídia que surgiria ao tomar qualquer ação contra o treinador, e o efeito que isso teria na equipe.
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O técnico do San Jose State College Spartans, Todd Kress, fala com a mídia após a derrota para o Colorado State College Rams em um jogo de vôlei feminino da NCAA Mountain West em Fort Collins, Colorado, em 3 de outubro de 2024. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle through Getty Photographs)
As descobertas não mencionam o nome do treinador, mas a Fox Information Digital acredita razoavelmente que a figura intitulada “Treinador 2” nas descobertas é o atual técnico de vôlei da SJSU, Todd Kress.
“Notas adicionais indicam que a decisão de não suspender o Treinador 2 também incluiu a consideração imprópria: ‘Se nós o dispensarmos… [we could also spark more media attention. . . .’ University records indicate University officials, including the President of the University, agreed to not suspend Coach 2 because they felt his suspension would unduly disrupt the team,” the findings state.
ED’s investigation determined SJSU allegedly gave Kress preferential treatment over a female assistant coach, titled Coach 2, whom Fox News Digital reasonably believes to be former SJSU assistant volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, who is currently waging a wrongful-termination lawsuit against the school.
Batie-Smoose addressed the findings and the allegations that SJSU avoided penalizing Kress to dodge attention in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“All along, they were looking to protect the male player, and anything that would not draw attention, that was all their decision-making in the process,” Batie-Smoose said.
“‘So we want the least amount of attention on this, we want it to go away, and the more we pay light to that, we could have attention on it that we do not want,'” she added about the university’s alleged thought process at the time.
Batie-Smoose was suspended during the 2024 season, then her contract was not renewed the following winter. Per the findings and Batie-Smoose’s own attorney, the reason for her suspension was said to be because she violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), for speaking about a trans athlete’s birth sex.
Batie-Smoose’s attorney, Vernadette Broyles of the Child & Parental Rights Campaign, has vehemently denied that Batie-Smoose violated FERPA.
INSIDE THE FALLOUT OF THE SJSU VOLLEYBALL SCANDAL: ‘THIS IS AN OBVIOUS PROBLEM’
The findings state that both coaches had Title IX complaints made against them in 2024, but only Batie-Smoose was penalized, and references an interview Kress did with ESPN, where he allegedly violated FERPA himself.
“Both Coach 2 and Coach 3 had complaints filed against them during the 2024 indoor volleyball season relating to allegations of Title IX violations and employee conduct violations. During the pendency of the employee conduct investigations, the University suspended Coach 3 (a woman) but chose to not suspend Coach 2 (a man), for similar alleged conduct at the beginning of both investigations,” the findings state.
“University records indicate the decision to suspend Coach 3 was primarily based on allegations that Coach 3 committed a ‘FERPA violation’ when she ‘openly went to the press and trashed a student.’ Similarly, the investigator’s notes specifically state Coach 2 ‘crossed the FERPA line in his interview with ESPN…’
“The evidence indicates that Coach 3, a woman, was immediately suspended in conjunction with allegations of a FERPA violation, whereas Coach 2, a man, was not suspended despite facing similar FERPA allegations. OCR has requested additional information regarding these matters from the University in order to make an informed determination, but, despite having ample opportunity to provide it, the University refused to provide all of the requested information.”
The findings also cite an alleged observation by SJSU’s Title IX coordinator that Kress was being “borderline ignored or not even acknowledged.” Fox News Digital reasonable believes Student 3 in the section to be former SJSU co-captain Brooke Slusser, who leads a lawsuit over her experience on the team with the male athlete.
“An email from the Title IX coordinator dated October 17, 2024, includes the observation that: ‘The team has rallied around [Student 3] e [Coach 3], [Coach 2] não está sendo comunicado organicamente, quase ignorado ou nem mesmo reconhecido'”, afirmam as descobertas.
Batie-Smoose disse que sua libertação levou os jogadores a questionar sua segurança.
“Ao me libertar… eles não têm mais segurança, não têm ninguém cuidando dos seus melhores interesses”, disse ela.
Slusser também disse anteriormente à Fox Information Digital que a libertação de Batie-Smoose causou sentimentos de medo entre ela e outros companheiros de equipe.
A San Jose State College e o sistema California State College (CSU) entraram com uma ação judicial contra a ED para contestar as conclusões.
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Quando contatado para comentar, a SJSU forneceu um hyperlink para uma página da internet contendo o documento para uma ordem judicial. A ordem impede quaisquer cortes imediatos de financiamento para SJSU ou CSU e estabelece um processo judicial acelerado caso o governo federal decida agir.
Afirma que a CSU e a ED devem apresentar relatórios conjuntos de situação a cada 60 dias até que os réus federais decidam se devem reter, pausar, encerrar, congelar, bloquear ou de outra forma recusar o financiamento à SJSU ou à CSU, ou tomar medidas relacionadas.
Se a ED decidir reter fundos ou tomar outras medidas, as partes deverão apresentar uma proposta de briefing rápido e cronograma de audiência dentro de dois dias úteis. O cronograma tem como objetivo permitir que a CSU apresente uma moção e tenha briefing e audiência concluídos em até 45 dias após a decisão do governo.
Até que esse processo ocorra, as conclusões da ED não terão efeito sobre a elegibilidade da SJSU ou da CSU para fundos federais. O Departamento de Educação não pode reter, suspender ou interromper fundos federais com base nessa carta, acordo proposto, conclusões relacionadas ou nos fatos sob investigação até 30 dias após a audiência, presumindo que o briefing e a audiência ocorram dentro de 60 dias após a decisão do governo.
