Rick Smith Transfers Ooltewah High Coach To Post With No Student Contact; Superintendent Admits Several Mistakes Made In Handling Case

Supt. Rick Smith, at an afternoon press conference, said he has transferred Ooltewah High School basketball coach Andre Montgomery to a post where he will not have contact with students.

He said he has been instructed not to go on the Ooltewah High campus or other school campuses.

Supt. Smith also said he admits that he made several mistakes in handling the situation after three Ooltewah High basketball players were charged with the aggravated rape of a fellow 15-year-old teammate.

He said he should have canceled the remainder of the team's season immediately after the Dec. 22 incident at Gatlinburg.

Also, he said the team should have come back home immediately and not continued to play in a tournament.

Supt. Smith said he regrets that he did not hold a press conference a week ago and give the public as much information as he could about the situation.

He said he and the board are committed to taking steps to ensure that other students will not be bullied or mistreated.

Noting that he is aware of a petition to remove him as superintendent, he said, "Resignation has never crossed my mind." 

He said he has read everything that has been printed about the case, including many criticisms of himself. He said, "I am my own worst critic."

He said he understands that many members of the public are "angry, frustrated and outraged."

Supt. Smith said Ooltewah High Athletic Director Jesse Nayadley is still in his position. He said the AD was at the tournament in Gatlinburg.

He said he still has not learned of any wrong-doing by adults on the out-of-town trip.

The superintendent defended a decision not to allow three freshmen players who were on the varsity to play for the freshman team. He said they would be taking the place of others "who have been on the court all season. That would not be fair."

Supt. Smith said since the incident "I have been living with it 24 hours a day. It has consumed most of our time."

He said last week a hotline was put into place where anonymous complaints of bullying and hazing can be submitted to school officials. He said those will need to be investigated, and he said school administrators are not trained as investigators so that issue will need to be addressed.

He strongly denied there has been any type of "cover up" by school officials. He said he has never known of county school officials being involved in cover ups in this and prior administrations.

He said he "will not stand idly by" and allow any kind of bullying in the schools if at all possible. He said stronger policies will be put into place, though he said not every incident can be prevented by policies.

Supt. Smith said of a continuing probe into alleged bullying at the local schools "If we find any wrongdoing, we will take action."

On a gag order, he said he was given that information earlier "by people I trust." It turned out there was not a gag order in Sevier County, and Juvenile officials there recently released some information about the case.

He said he wants to engage the public in solutions to the bullying issue and said he will also get advice from such groups as the PTA and his student advisory panel.