The Manheim Central School District booted senior defensive tackle Reno Dart from the team after a friend sent out a SnapChat photo of him. Supporters say the punishment is extreme and jeopardizes college scholarships; the school says he violated its Code of Conduct.
That student is off the team as well.
Dart says he put on the Barons’ mascot head in the locker room while he was changing, before the team’s October 17th game. The photo allegedly showed him nude, wearing the mascot head, covering his private parts with his hands.
Because the photo was sent on SnapChat, it disappeared after a certain amount of time and it’s not clear if anyone even tried to save it. Dart’s family says the school acted based on a rumor without even seeing the photo, and the school won’t comment either way.
"If it is so horrible, and so degrading, show it to us, let us see what you are talking about," says Dart's mother, Brenda Dart. "Well we can't, nobody can give us this picture, well then what is your basis on?"
The Darts say parents who saw the SnapChat photo complained to the school. Their son was called in to explain what happened. He received three days' and one game suspension, and his parents say it should've been left at that.
"He did something stupid, I don't have a problem with that," his father Douglas Dart says of the suspension part of the punishment.
But it wasn't all. He was kicked off the team. The school says Dart's locker-room nudity "defaced" the mascot - school property - even though it wasn't damaged.
The disciplinary letter from Principal Jeffrey Hughes says Dart violated the Baron Code of Conduct that says athletes' "personal conduct must always be above reproach."
Schools officials say they can't comment on a disciplinary matter, or whether Dart could be reinstated on the team.
