Students and parents at a Far South Side high school say administrators fumbled the firing of a beloved football coach.
Hundreds of students here at Morgan Park High School taking part in a walkout, one day after longtime football coach Chris James was fired.
“It’s very unethical and unprofessional how they just ended the season this year.”
Gabrielle Verdisen got a call from her son when he learned his season was over.
“He said ‘we’re not even playing Prep Bowl this weekend.’ And I’m like ‘what is going on?’ Parents deserve that type of announcement and even the students, knowing that they worked hard this year and throughout the years. To end it like that is just unethical.”
James has said he was fired for waiting to decide his coaching future once the Mustangs season ended over the weekend, but that he intended to remain at Morgan Park, where he coached for nine years.
Verdisen says parents stand with the team, both in their walkout and in their demands for answers.
“I mean, hey, we don’t play about our boys. Any parent doesn’t play about their kids.”
