Trinity High School Football Players Protest Coach Cuts

WASHINGTON, Pa.,None — The Trinity High School football team staged a sit-in at the high school's stadium on Monday to protest cuts to the team's coaching staff.

"We as members of the Trinity Football team are sitting out. We feel we are unjustly targeted by the school board," said senior John Laschinsky. "With only four varsity coaches, we feel this will lead to unsafe conditions during practice because of the aggressive nature of the sport. We would be inadequately supervised."

Parents of the football players were also there to show their support for the team and their sons.

"They're speaking their piece and we parents support them," said parent Caroline Frey.

Team members and parents said there are not enough coaches for the team of 53 students. Two coaches were laid off because of budget cuts, and three other coaches resigned from the team for personal reasons, according to school officials.

Parents said they're upset with the school board's decision to keep only four coaches for the entire team.

"Most of the theatrics I've ignored. Now it's a safety issue," Frey said. "We need our coaches. We need our coaches to help. We want a good year. I feel the worst for the seniors."

Some parent on Trinity's football booster said they plan on going to court on Tuesday to file an injunction to stop the school board from making any other changes.

"We ask those in charge to make decisions that don't hurt our team and all future football players," Laschinsky said.

Trinity School board president Sandra Clutter said the board has nothing against the football team and the cuts were a matter of taking control of spending. Clutter said the board was forced to make the cuts because of the governor's cuts on funding.

Clutter said a total of nine coaches were laid off at Trinity High School and only two were from the football program.

• Email Newsletter: Get The Latest News Sent To Your Email! • Mobile: Get WPXI Headlines On Your Phone, iPhone, More • RSS: Add Us To Your Page!

WPXI