Brooklyn City Schools football coach Tim McFarland has tendered his resignation after his team was accused of using the word "Nazi" repeatedly as a term to call out plays during a game with Beachwood schools on Friday.
That's according to a statement Brooklyn City Schools Superintendent Ted Caleris provided to Cleveland.com Monday. Caleris apologized and said the "hurtful and harmful speech will not be tolerated," and said the school district will use it as a learning moment.
Beachwood is home to a large population of Jewish people; The football game took place at Beachwood.
City Schools Superintendent Robert Hardis called attention to the behavior of the other team in a letter to families over the weekend.
"We learned late in the first half of our home football game Friday night against Brooklyn High School that Brooklyn’s team was repeatedly using the word 'Nazi' to call out a play," Hardis explained. "The officials were notified, as was the Brooklyn athletic director and head coach. During halftime, Brooklyn’s coach acknowledged using this word as the play call, apologized, and agreed to change it when the teams returned for the second half. We informed the officials that should this continue, we would pull our players from the field. To our knowledge, 'Nazi' was not used during the second half."
Beachwood schools shared Hardis' statement with Ideastream Public Media but Caleris did not respond to a phone call Monday afternoon.
"As we have in the past, we will work closely with Chagrin Valley Conference school districts to address antisemitism and racial slurs," Hardis wrote. "Beachwood Schools will always prioritize the safety of our students and staff, whether in school or during athletic contests."
