Coach and Batavia resident urges stricter discipline after videoized JV girls basketball incident

Walter Lubas, a Batavia resident and teacher in St. Charles District 303, told the Batavia USD 101 Board of Education that a Feb. 4 junior-varsity game between Batavia and Saint Charles East featured multiple unprovoked blows to a Saint Charles player that left her with concussion symptoms.

"A player from Batavia High School threw an unprovoked forearm to the back of one of my players' heads not once but twice," Lubas said, adding that after those contacts the player "came around the front and elbowed her directly in the nose, knocking her back" and that the student has experienced concussion symptoms for three weeks. (Walter Lubas, public commenter.)

Lubas said a Batavia athletic director initially described the district's approach as "hard-nosed athletics," and that the district's response felt insufficient. He told the board the player who struck the opponent received a three-game suspension and that an apology was conveyed by phone to the Saint Charles parent. "The response from the Batavia School District has left me feeling that there was a real lack of recognition of the severity of the incident and almost no ownership took place," Lubas said.

Lubas asked the board to review the Batavia Student Code of Conduct and "include strict and specific disciplinary action for extreme aggression and physical attacks," saying he could not find clear language covering this type of extreme on-court aggression.

The board did not take a formal disciplinary action in the meeting; Lubas's remarks were made during the public-comment portion. The athletic director and principal had received a video clip, Lubas said, and he spoke as both a coach and a Batavia resident concerned about sportsmanship and student safety.

Next step: Lubas urged the board to examine code-of-conduct language and consider whether more-specific disciplinary measures for extreme aggression are warranted.