Atlanta high school football team under scrutiny

ATLANTA (AP) -- The Atlanta school system says it's investigating a Midtown high school's football team after a complaint was filed claiming that coaches knew many of the players lived outside the school district.

The anonymous complaint said parents and students used false utility bills or relatives' addresses to falsify records so they could attend Grady High School, writes The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ( http://bit.ly/1h9Ws5V ), which obtained the complaint through an open records request. Coaches knew many players lived outside the school district, even giving them rides to their homes outside the city, the complaint said.

"They want to build a winning team by any means necessary," said the complaint.

The complaint was dated Nov. 7, and Atlanta public schools Superintendent Erroll Davis on Monday announced an investigation of about 20 Grady football players, their parents and their coaches.

Davis said parents who signed falsified documents could face criminal charges, and students could lose athletic eligibility and be forced to transfer to schools near their homes.

The team's head coach, Ronnie Millen Sr., was removed from his position at the school and transferred.

By attending Grady without living in the area, the football players were essentially taking tax money from students who do live in the community, the complaint says.

"I am highly upset and bothered," said the complaint. "These parents are committing theft and are showing their children that integrity is not important; and that . you should lie and falsify information to get what you want."

http://accesswdun.com/article/2013/12/268901