Zero tolerance zeroes out a softball coach

Brad Young, a girls’ high school softball coach in Frederick County, Md., is now a former softball coach because he hosted a beer-fueled party for his team. At least, he did in the eyes of the school board he says fired him this week because of the presence of some brewskis at the annual postseason cookout he hosts at his house. His JV coach got canned, too.

From the account given by a parent on the above link, Young, nor his players, did not partake of any alcohol during the party. However, some friendly and thankful parents thought they would bring a few six-packs over as a gesture of thanks.

And Young might have his own message of thanks: Thanks, parents, for getting me fired! Turns out school officials deemed Young’s house school property for the purposes of the event, and thus in violation of a rule banning alcohol on district grounds. So he got a punishment severe enough that he may as well have brought the team into his school office and knocked back jello shots with them before getting them all pregnant. I hope none of those parents smoke, because if anyone finds out they lit up, Young would be in violation of the school’s no-tobacco policy, and the district would hire him so it could fire him again. (Young is not a teacher, so he’s completely out of the picture after five years as coach.)

The Frederick County schools, as often happens when a district does something way overboard in the name of protecting the children, is refusing to comment on its decision.  It’s not even clear who made the decision to fire him. However, it’s a good bet the school’s lawyer(s) recommended Young’s dismissal because if you allow the presence of beer at someone’s house at a casual team function, then you get a Mom whipping out a glass of chardonnay when the math club gets together at a member’s house. Eternal vigilance, people, eternal vigilance!