Mead school board hires law firm to investigate football program

A Seattle law firm has been hired by the Mead School District to investigate the Mead High School football program amid lawsuits claiming the district mishandled player misconduct that led to the firing of head coach Keith Stamps.

The district’s board of directors voted Dec. 19 at a special board meeting to hire the law firm Carney, Badley, Spellman to conduct the investigation, according to board meeting minutes.

District spokesman Todd Zeidler said in a text message Friday the firm has started its investigation.

The board wanted the investigation to determine where school district policies were violated and if district policies need to be updated in the fallout of the football controversy, according to meeting minutes. Board members also emphasized the need for the law firm to examine the district’s investigation into the misconduct to determine if it was adequate.

At a regular board meeting Dec. 9, board President Michael Cannon said in a statement that “an outside investigation is not only warranted but necessary” after the district received a lawsuit Nov. 20 that contained new allegations connected to previously reported incidents involving the football program, according to meeting minutes.

“We need to obtain all relevant facts about the culture of the football program, as well as our district’s athletic programs in general, to not only ensure they comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and board policies, but to make sure they meet the standards of excellence and integrity we all expect,” Cannon said in the statement. “We must embark on a systematic process of learning from this incident. And we need to ensure that something like this does not happen again.”

Four former Mead High School football players and their parents are suing the school district for failing to protect the players and report the assaults, harassment and racial discrimination the four student-athletes, who are Black, reportedly experienced at the hands of their teammates. A fifth former player, who is white and who was also assaulted at a Mead football camp, and his family are also suing the district.

The school district announced last month that it fired Stamps and terminated his teaching contract for failing to properly investigate and report player misconduct.

The lawsuits claim the players were assaulted with battery-powered massage guns at 2022 and 2023 Mead summer football camps at Eastern Washington University.