California school district suspends high school baseball team for senior photos taken on school grounds

The John Burroughs High varsity baseball team had to delay its return to conditioning this week after Burbank Unified School District superintendent Matt Hill suspended the team for photos of the team’s seniors that were taken on school grounds on Jan. 22.

The varsity team was scheduled to begin conditioning on Monday, March 1, but will now begin Monday, March 8. The seniors in the photo received a two-week suspension and can join the team March 15.

“We had a group of players and families dress up in uniform and take pictures on campus in violation of health orders (no masks, no social distancing, and mixing of families),” Hill said via email. “They then posted the picture on a JBHS baseball social media site. No player or family from the team notified the coach, school, or district of this health order violation.”

Hill continued: “I have decided to delay the return of athletic conditioning for the JBHS baseball team by one week so that the team can review health guidelines and safety protocols. I look forward to the team beginning conditioning on Monday, safely.”

The photos were taken by parent, Jo Dee Freck, whose son Rory plays on the team.

“Our boys have been teammates and friends for years prior to Burroughs, which has brought the families so close,” Freck said. “The kids have lost (almost) an entire year. This photo was taken with the idea to commemorate and remember their senior season.”

She added: “The boys were just trying to make their moms happy.”

In addition to the eight seniors who took part in the photos, the entire varsity team was suspended by the district. The freshman and junior varsity teams, made up of roughly 40 players, started conditioning Monday.

The suspension delays the return to the field for the varsity players. The COVID-19 pandemic halted education-based athletics, including baseball, in March 2020.

A parent for one of the players on the team, Brian Nichols, said the punishment was too harsh.

“For Matt Hill to discipline a team of players based on an individual offense, separate from any team activity, is unprecedented and an egregious abuse of the district’s power in order to prove a point,” Nichols said. “For a district that claims to care about the mental health of its students, this decision is in direct opposition of that claim.”

Hill said in an email Tuesday the photo was in violation of state and county health guidelines.