Football Coaches Harassed Lacey Teen Over Body, Mental Health: Lawsuit

LACEY, NJ — A current Lacey Township High School student is suing the district, claiming that the football coaches harassed him over his weight and mental health issues when he played for the team his freshman (2020-21) and sophomore (2021-22) years.

The student, identified as A.G. in the lawsuit that was filed in June, who was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome and anxiety as a child and has struggled with his weight as a result, claims he experienced repeated abuse from his football coaches, then faced retaliation from reporting the abuse.

The boy and his parents say that the Lacey Township Board of Education is complicit because they did not take proper measures to fix it, saying that "members of the staff were willfully indifferent to the harassment," according to the lawsuit.

Lacey Superintendent Vanessa P. Clark did not respond to Patch's request for comment.

The family is seeking damages, as well as training about medical disability-based harassment for administrators, annual HIB training for coaches and training regarding HIB investigations for the administrators who "failed to respond to the harassment," according to the lawsuit.

During A.G's time on the football team, he said he experienced discrimination, harassment and retaliation because of his medical conditions by, among others, Coach Lou Vircillo, Assistant Coach Jack Bush and Assistant Coach Shane Allen, according to the lawsuit.

In Aug. 2020, Bush told A.G. he needed to lose weight in front of other players, who were all made to line up and weigh themselves on a scale in front of each other, the lawsuit said. Throughout the season, Bush made other comments about A.G.'s weight, according to the lawsuit.

In the next school year, Bush's comments to A.G. "became more aggressive and demeaning," according to the lawsuit. Starting in Aug. 2021, Bush made several comments in front of the entire team, saying "in sum and substance," "look at you, lose weight," and "look at how fat you got," the lawsuit said.

A.G. told his parents about the comments and how they caused him anxiety at practice, the lawsuit said. His mother, identified as D.S.G., and father, D.G., made calls to coaches asking for them to speak to Bush about his negative comments, the lawsuit said. One coach promised to tell Bush to keep his distance from the teenager, but two days after that call, he not only didn't keep his distance, he "acted more harshly than usual toward A.G.," according to the lawsuit.

Two days after that, Bush approached the student at practice, saying that he shouldn't take offense to his comments and that he didn't need to involve his dad, according to the lawsuit.

In September of that year, A.G. tested positive for Covid-19 and ended up hospitalized. After he was released, he returned to football practice almost daily even though he had not been cleared to play, according to the lawsuit.

The comments from Bush continued, saying in front of teammates, "Man you got fat; what have you been doing? You need to lose weight," and these comments and "hostility" continued through October, according to the lawsuit.

In October, the teenager's father again called a coach to talk about Bush's comments, and the coach "expressed his frustration" with Bush and said he would talk to him, according to the lawsuit.

Before the next practice, Vircillo called A.G. into his office and said he was "upset" he did not come to him first and also suggested that Bush was not trying to be mean with his comments, according to the lawsuit.

The student's father told Vircillo that he wanted Bush off the team, and Vircillo said that Bush would not attend practices and only film games from the box, the lawsuit said.

At the same time, a harassment investigation was opened against Bush by the school, with more assurances that Bush would not be involved with practice, according to the lawsuit.

However, only a few days later, Bush was at practice, and the student was told by Vircillo to help him put Bush's video equipment on the bus, the lawsuit said.

The student began noticing missing items from his locker and suspected that his teammates were joining in on the harassment, the lawsuit said. Bush continued to go to practices, though he was supposed to not be allowed on school grounds, according to the lawsuit.

Ultimately, shortly after he was cleared to play football again, A.G. told his mother that he could not do it anymore and wanted to go to another school, the lawsuit said, telling her that he did not want to even play football anymore.

He still continued to attend practice, but stopped being put on plays by the coaches, the lawsuit said. The student texted his mom that the coaches had won, the lawsuit said.

The day after that, he skipped practice, and Allen called the student to turn in his gear, the lawsuit said.