By Chris B. Bennett, Publisher/CEO of The Seattle Medium
It appears that The Seattle Public Schools’ Grinch has placed another sack of coal under the Christmas tree of the Black community without any real rhyme, reason or accountability.
A few months ago, the Grinch, single handedly ruined the athletic program at Garfield High School by getting rid of both the Boys and Girls basketball coaches, former NBA all-star Brandon Roy and Roydell Smiley, without an explanation to the community. This came on the heels of the removal/forced withdrawal of Rainier Beach High School football coach Corey Sampson just weeks into the season. Combine the recent dismissals at Garfield High School with the removal/forced withdrawal of former head football coach Reggie Witherspoon and you now have a school that lacks the competitive spirit that has long been associated with Garfield athletics.
Fast forward to last week, and the Grinch’s most recent move was the removal/forced withdrawal of the now former Franklin High School Basketball coach Tavar Proctor. In the case of Proctor, no one in recent memory infused a greater sense of “Quaker Pride” both inside the building and out in the community than Proctor, who many believe was on the verge of returning Franklin’s basketball program back to greatness. Now it appears that the Franklin basketball program may suffer the same fate as the Garfield football and basketball programs in the very near future if the Grinch is allowed to dismantle programs without accountability.
And just when you thought the level, enthusiasm and school pride related to the Garfield basketball program couldn’t get any lower, last week the boys JV team was forced to wear the uniforms of their opponents/rivals, Rainier Beach during the game last week. That’s right. Garfield’s jv team wore Rainier Beach uniforms during their game against Rainier Beach. Not only is this detrimental, in my opinion, to the psyche of the players and student body, but I have yet to hear a formal apology from the school leadership regarding the issue to the community at large.
This level of non-responsiveness and lack of accountability at SPS is not an isolated incident and needs to stop. On September 26, 2025, I sent the following request to the SPS Media Relations team and to date have not received a response:
I’ve been reading and hearing a lot of information in the community about the removal of the basketball coaches at Garfield High School and am requesting responses to the following questions/inquiries.
• It is alleged/rumored that the coaches may have been dismissed because of recruiting violations and/or some other issues surrounding possible recruiting. Has SPS conducted a formal investigation regarding the possible recruitment of players for the Garfield Boys and/or Girl’s basketball teams? If so, was this an SPS investigation, WIAA investigation or a school-based investigation?
• There are also statements, including statements in Dr. Hart’s Letter to the Garfield community, that imply that the teams may or may not have been performing well academically. Do you have any metrics related to the academic achievement of the teams and how they compare to the other schools’ boys’ and girls’ basketball teams in the district. In addition, do you have any historical data related to this issue.
• What is the process to hire new coaches for both teams, especially since the season will start soon.
• I recently heard that there may be a meeting to address the issues at Garfield related to the coaches. If so, when will the meeting take place? Is this a meeting for students, parents, the community, etc?
SPS through its underground communications network would like the community to believe that the departures of these coaches are part of a house cleaning effort because of the recent number of settlements/judgements/lawsuits/etc related to athletics. But one must wonder, if this is the case, why is it that the people who have recently been dismissed from their duties are Black coaches, people that coach at historically Black schools, and/or coach in sports that have a disproportionately high number of Black players? If SPS is really trying to clean up athletics, why are we not seeing similar actions taking place in sports like wrestling, golf, tennis, volleyball, bowling, softball, etc.? Certainly, if you look hard enough, you can find someone who has allegedly bent/broken some kind of rule (even minor infractions), have students whose eligibility may be in question, or might not get along very well with parents and players.
With all that has been said and done, I believe this is only the beginning of the Grinch’s handy work, and that we will hear about more prominent names hitting the chopping block in the new year.
Unfortunately, acting superintendent Fred Podesta, who is not actively part of the Grim Reaper exploits of the district, apparently has turned a loose eye to all the bloodshed that has come under his watch, even though athletics until recently was under his supervision. Even though the district is in a state of transition, we fully expect the superintendent, whether acting or permanent, to make sure what happens in one part of the district happens throughout the district, even when it relates to athletics.
Through the eyes of an ink barrel, may peace be unto you!
