Portland Public Schools Suspends Lincoln Basketball Coach Pat Adelman

Adelman tried to teach students a lesson on race in a halftime tirade.

Portland Public Schools has suspended Pat Adelman from his varsity basketball coaching duties at Lincoln High School, following an investigation of a Jan. 12 incident in which Adelman accused white junior varsity players of playing scared against Jefferson High School because its players were black.

"A replacement coach will be named shortly and that person will take over varsity head coaching duties for the remainder of the basketball season, including the post-season," PPS officials wrote in statement released Wednesday. "Adelman will return for his head coaching duties for next season."

In a Jan. 14 complaint sent to Superintendent Carole Smith, a mother of a freshman player says Adelman brought her child, who is black, and another player who is also black into the locker room at half time and urged the white players to touch them.

"Does that make you like black people now?" he allegedly asked the players.

The complaint came from a parent Smith would have had a hard time ignoring.

"When it is brought to the attention of a student of color that they are considered by the white world to be 'outsiders,' as Coach Adelman did in this outrageous act, that is something that cannot be undone," wrote mother Laurie Wimmer, who's also a lobbyist for the statewide teachers union, in her complaint to Smith. "Forever after [the students] will be, to their teammates and in their own eyes, 'black' and 'other.'"

The second player, Jonah Pemberton, tells WW he wasn't offended by Adelman's actions. "It wasn't weird in any way," he says.

Although his coaching duties are over for this year, Adelman will remain as Lincoln's attendance officer.

PPS will also offer a restorative justice session for players and parents. And all PPS coaches will be required to attend a two-day training on confronting racism.

Wimmer, in a statement, said she was pleased with the outcome. Three other parents joined her complaint.

"Our efforts have clearly pushed the district to examine how it prepares its coaches to relate to players," she wrote. "Though it took six weeks (the majority of the playing season) to get stronger action, let's hope we can continue to monitor the district to ensure our students' safety and emotional wellbeing going forward."

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