Photos
Following a 75-minute executive session, board members emerged from behind closed doors. Board president Mark Campeau announced that the board was standing by the district’s decision.
No formal vote was needed since the decision was a personnel matter and the board’s meeting was in response to citizen complaints.
Earlier in the evening, an audience of about 70 people attended the meeting at Madison Elementary School’s gym. A dozen of them gave a last-minute appeal for Galloway, urging the school district to reconsider its decision not to renew his contract.
“What happened with the boys is every parents’ nightmare,” said Capital parent Sharon Wallace.
Still, she said, Galloway took the appropriate steps in reporting the incident when he learned about it, and district officials overreacted by letting Galloway go.
Cheri Mills told the board she was speaking for herself, as well as her son, a varsity basketball player. Even though her son wasn’t involved in the alleged hazing incident, she said his life was changed by the district’s decision to let Galloway go.
“Please don’t let this be the one thing that tarnishes the memory of this time in his life,” she told the board.
Matt Holm, who played for Galloway for two years before graduating in 2008, told the board that Galloway is a role model and someone people can look up to.
“You get more than a coach,” Holm said in an interview after the meeting. “You get a role model and a friend. He’s a great coach, a friend. Without a doubt, he’s someone they need in the community.”
On Aug. 22, the district announced it would not renew Galloway’s contract amid an investigation into a hazing incident involving Capital basketball team members at a Western Washington University basketball camp in Bellingham on June 29.
Officials said Galloway failed to provide adequate supervision after campus police investigated an alleged incident involving “forced sexual contact” between students. He also didn’t submit permission forms for the camp with the district, according to district spokesman Ryan Betz.
Galloway told the investigating campus police officer that several younger boys were in a dorm room when eight older players stormed the room and wrestled three of the younger boys to the ground.
“It started to get weird,” one of the players told Galloway, according to the district’s private investigation report on the incident. One player said “people were touching and poking where they shouldn’t.”
The Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office declined to file charges in connection with the incident, saying one of the victim’s parents didn’t want to pursue criminal charges.
On Monday, several Capital parents, including Lisa Stock, wore florescent green “Bring Him Back” T-shirts that have become a symbol in a community-wide campaign to get Galloway reinstated.
While leaving from the meeting, she said she hopes the district learns from the incident and uses it as a teaching tool in the future.
