GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Six students who are members of a top-ranked Gwinnett County baseball team have been suspended after allegations of sexual assault, despite an emergency court motion filed in court by parents.
The students, who play for the Panthers Summer Baseball Team, are accused of inappropriate contact with a younger teammate at a South Carolina hotel while at a tournament in June.
The team is made up of many members of the Parkview High School baseball team.
No criminal charges have been filed, but the school district came down hard on Friday, issuing full-year suspensions to five of the students. A sixth student is suspended for the first semester. The Gwinnett County school year started Monday.
Parents asked a judge to block the disciplinary action, claiming the school did not have the authority to punish the students because the team is a parent-led, nonprofit organization and the incident happened at a tournament that was not a school function.
A school district spokesman said in a statement, “This was a school-related function. It was a Parkview High School summer baseball program and all of the students were Parkview High School students at the time.”
School officials argued in court that the parents filed their suit too soon.
“I think it was probably fairly cut and dry that they had not yet exhausted the administrative remedies and they need to do that, go through the steps for a disciplinary hearing to the school board, the state school board,” legal expert Phyllis Miller.
“Then, only after all of those avenues have been pursued unsuccessfully could they come to the court seeking this relief,” Miller told Channel 2’s Aaron Diamant.
School officials and parents declined requests for an interview.
Channel 2 Action News is not naming the students because they are minors and are not charged with a crime. One of the students is related to a WSB-TV employee and that employee has not and will not be involved in our coverage of the story.
WSBTV
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