Overview
- District officials announced on Sept. 1 that Lowell’s varsity program will forfeit three games next spring and that the school has removed the entire varsity coaching staff after investigations concluded the program violated sportsmanship bylaws.
- The California Interscholastic Federation’s San Francisco section determined the team breached rules on unsportsmanlike conduct and selected the forfeited matchups based on last season’s standings to limit competitive distortion.
- School leaders said the decision followed an incident at a junior varsity championship in May that reporters and witnesses tied to alleged race‑based taunting by some Lowell students while varsity players and coaches watched.
- All players and staff connected to the junior varsity and varsity teams must complete sportsmanship coursework that covers bullying, hazing, inappropriate behavior and implicit‑bias training before the next season.
- SFUSD says it has communicated with impacted families and will hire an interim coach while searching for a permanent replacement, but it will not disclose whether individual students faced formal discipline because of student‑privacy rules.