Tuesday's Internet Edition, July 08, 2008.
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KVUE News ran portions of Mrs. Brister’s tape and her side of the story during their 6 o’clock and 10 o’clock news Monday night and repeated the story Tuesday morning. Unfortunately for Lexington, no school officials were available to address the situation and one parent and one student gave the only defense of the Boot Camp program.
Police Chief Davis said, “It appears there could have been improper activity on the video tape, but I saw only a small portion of the video and will reserve all opinions until I have more information. We can assure the community that we investigate any and all allegations of mistreatment of students in and out of school.”
Superintendent of School, Chuck Holt said, “Lexington ISD is always concerned about the safety and well being of our students. Events such as boot camps are held all across the state. The school I came from did these. They are used for positive team building and for building camaraderie.
“I can tell you, our athletes across the board, with maybe an exception or two, feel this is one of the more fun things they get to do. For example, after practice, many of the students went back and played in the mud pits and some of the kids threw the coaches in the mud. Most kids look forward to this in the spring. We believe this type of activity benefits the athletes.
“We still don’t have a complaint filed. While there is a news story, LISD has a specific process for filing a complaint and none has been received from a parent or a student. If we do, we will always look into it.
“Officially, there is no record of a complaint filed against Lexington Athletic Department’s Boot Camp in past five years.
“Our Boot Camp is well supervised. The High School Principal along with other staff members were present Monday afternoon watching over and supervising the activity. The Principal informed me that nothing inappropriate happened and in our judgment, the majority of parents support this type of event.”