Supporters of Dismissed South East High Football Coach Stage Protest

This past Friday afternoon, several parents and students picketed in front of South East High School and demanded the reinstatement of Derwin Henderson, a sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department  (LAPD), who was recently fired from his position as head football coach.

“He was fired unjustly,” said Ever Flores, 42, the father of a current varsity football player. “They should not have taken him out especially if he was trying to investigate what happened himself.”

Last week,  after an alleged locker room fight broke out between players the week prior. The fight was later described more like a

Henderson that he was not present at the time of the incident. However, that he spoke with the players about the incident upon arriving to the school.

“What he did was to investigate first, which is what people are supposed to do,” said Latoria Henderson, the wife of Derwin Henderson, who attended the protest. “The [Los Angeles Unified School District] (LAUSD) wants to be transparent and my husband was being transparent.”

The former coach was not present at the protest, because he has yet to be told if he can visit the school or attend football games, said his wife.

The day after the incident in the locker room, Henderson contacted the school’s Athletic Director after he received a call from the parent of the alleged victim.

“I spoke with his parent and I immediately called the Athletic Director,” said Henderson . “I talked to the player but he didn’t give me his story.”

The school has allegedly fired Henderson because he did not follow protocol in regards to informing school administrators about the incident. The former coach has said that he was also told that 

Henderson that administrators classified the incident as a form of “child abuse,” and that he did not follow the right protocol in this scenario, which included

Parents present at the protest insisted that Henderson was a positive influence on their children, both on and off the field.

“Its unfair that they let him go, after everything that he has done with the kids,” said Sylvia Escobedo, 40, whose two sons have played football at South East High with Henderson. “He made sure that the kids went to school and did not get into trouble.”

Escobedo credits the mentoring of Henderson as an important factor that helped one of her son's to finish high-school. 

“One of my sons recently graduated and [Henderson] had a lot to do with it,”  said Escobedo.

During Henderson’s tenure the South East High Jaguars varsity football team won 15 of 16 games. The school also won the City Section Division II Championship, but had its title taken away after it was determined that they used an ineligible player.

Flores, one of the parents at the protest, was nevertheless proud of the team and of Henderson’s coaching.

“They are champions,” said Flores, who believes Henderson’s leadership was crucial to the success of the team. “This is the best season they have had.”

South East High has yet to release a statement on anything related to the alleged incident or the dismissal of Henderson.

The LAUSD office of communications issued the following written statement at the protest:

“We can confirm that the head football coach has been let go. Due to the on-going investigation of the incident by school officials, no other details are available,” said the statement.

A spokesperson of the LAUSD, who was present at the protest, added that this was an issue involving personnel, and that because of this there are legal issues at stake.

“It is a personnel issue so it limits what we can say,” said Daryl Strickland, an LAUSD spokesperson.

None of the players who showed up to support Henderson at the protest were willing to go on the record about the incident or why they wanted their former coach to come back. Some of the parents said that this was because current coaches had instructed them to not talk to media.

However, one player did approach Patch and said the following anonymously:

“As players we just want Coach D. back.”

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