Report details mistakes that led to SFMHS sex scandal

SOUTH FORT MYERS, Fla. — The South Fort Myers High School bathroom where multiple football players allegedly had sex with a 15-year-old old girl was supposed to have been locked before the incident took place, a Lee County School District investigation revealed Friday.

The fallout from the highly publicized sexual encounter continues nearly three months after it took place in May. Principal Melissa Layner was reassigned over summer break and the district fired head football coach Anthony Dixon last week.

The district installed Ed Mathews as the school’s principal for the current school year. Assistant coach Matthew Holderfield was promoted to interim head football coach even though he received a letter of warning from the district in connection to the scandal, the school district told WINK News.

Holderfield’s role in the incident is unclear.

Jarvis Kinchen and Larry Turner, security workers for the school, were also given written reprimands. Kinchen, an assistant football coach, was suspended from his coaching duties for two weeks.

“There is no doubt that this tragic and horrible incident has deeply affected our community,” Superintendent Dr. Greg Atkins said in a public statement released Friday. “… The safety and security of your children is my highest priority.”

The students involved entered the bathroom during an after-school study hall that Dixon and his coaching staff were in charge of supervising, according to the investigation. Students were able to leave the study hall on bathroom breaks without any sign-out procedure, Layner said in statements to investigators.

She also told them that school policy was for bathrooms to be locked during the after-school hours in which the study hall took place.

Two coaches and one security specialist wrote in their statements that they had to ask a female student to leave at the beginning of the study hall. It’s unclear whether that student was the girl involved in the sex.

One of the football players, 16-year-old William Scott, was arrested in May, but no charges were filed. He agreed to take part in a diversion plan that essentially resolved his case after he entered a not-guilty plea.

No other students have faced legal consequences. A public outcry against the firing of Dixon has taken place in the days since he was let go. The football team opens its season Friday with a game against Island Coast.