Lincoln boys basketball coach Heather Seely-Roberts and the parents of a number of her players are facing off in a set of tort lawsuits filed this week, with each side accusing the other of sabotaging the team.
After parents expressed dissatisfaction with the coach’s choices, the parents of four pupils allege that Seely-Roberts has retaliated against them by excluding them from the team. Seely-Roberts asserts that a number of parents are harassing her as a result of their kids’ exclusion from the varsity team.
Seely-Roberts, who was employed by Lincoln in 2021, teaches physical education and coaches the boys’ basketball team.
Being treated differently than male coaches is one of her grievances as the sole female coach of a boys varsity team in Oregon’s Class 6A.
Seely-Roberts has led Lincoln to a 58-25 record in three years as coach. In the 2022–2023 season, the Cardinals placed third in the state and won the Portland Interscholastic League.
In the first legal action on Thursday, the parents of four Lincoln students filed a tort claim against Seely-Roberts, alleging that she had retaliated against players whose parents had previously complained about her coaching, used racist remarks, and used homophobic slurs against players who played offseason club basketball for another coach. The assertion is a declaration of intent to sue.
To preserve the privacy of the youngsters involved, The Oregonian/OregonLive is not disclosing the identities of the parents or the students themselves (who are identified in the tort claim by their initials).
Seely-Roberts claimed in a tort lawsuit brought by attorney Steve Lindsey that the coach was being attacked by parents because their adolescents were not selected for the Cardinals varsity team.
Lindsey stated, “This family is retaliating against Heather Seely-Roberts by filing false complaints against her and trying to get her removed from the basketball program at Lincoln High School, seemingly unhappy that their student did not secure a position on the varsity basketball team.”
According to Portland attorney Kevin Brague’s tort suit on behalf of the parents, Seely-Roberts used a homophobic slur twice in June: once when driving players to a team camp in Bend and once when remarking on a Lincoln High School kid who had pierced ears. According to the claim, Seely-Roberts shouted, “You guys doing gang signs?” to a group of Black pupils on May 29.
Seely-Roberts refuted these charges in an email provided to Willamette Week on Thursday by attorney Ross Denison.
“It is more of the same baseless accusations from these families who want to believe anything other than the possibility that their children were not qualified to make varsity,” Denison wrote, adding that there are too many fabrications in the tort claim notice to discuss them all here.
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Parents also made several claims that Seely-Roberts punished against student-athletes who played for a competing club coach during the off-season. According to the tort suit, Seely-Roberts promoted three smaller, less experienced players to varsity slots while immediately moving a group of players to junior varsity after observing them conversing with the coach in June.
In the tort claim, parents also expressed concerns after Seely-Roberts allegedly lied to a student regarding the date of basketball tryouts, cut three players after their parents complained to the school about her, and made her Instagram account private, which they said blocked a way to communicate with parents.
After receiving a formal complaint from the same set of parents earlier this year, Portland Public Schools looked into many of the same claims. The district found some retribution but did not take any disciplinary action, according to their findings, which were mainly inconclusive.
A player who was worried about the behavior of a former assistant basketball coach at Lincoln High School, who they claim had made jokes about possibly drugging the student’s burrito, was approached by Seely-Roberts and an assistant coach in January 2023, marking the beginning of the PPS investigation.
The youngster’s family asserted that the purpose of the meeting was to scare the student into not speaking out against the coach, who had since been kicked out of the Lincoln basketball team. According to district officials, there was insufficient evidence to draw the conclusion that the youngster was being intimidated by the meeting.
A parent’s complaint that Seely-Roberts was excluding them from team emails was also inconclusive. According to the district, it’s unclear if Seely-Roberts accidentally left some persons off of email lists or if it was an error.
In June 2023, the student also complained about the former assistant coach’s attendance at an offseason basketball event. According to the parents, Seely-Roberts permitted the old coach to return even though a team member felt uneasy around him. This is disputed by the district’s inquiry, which claims that the former coach was instructed to leave the school after receiving an invitation from Seely-Roberts.
The district discovered that Seely-Roberts engaged in retaliatory behavior, such as requesting that parents and kids speak with her personally rather than first addressing their complaints with the athletic director or administrator.
According to the district, Seely-Roberts brought up the fact that some parents had previously disregarded this strategy, which led to some problems. According to the district, it can be interpreted as retaliatory action to make families adhere to this plan or risk being kicked off the team. The district went on to say that the presentation made some family members feel attacked, which may also be seen as retaliatory action.
Seely-Roberts filed a formal complaint with Portland Public Schools in late October, requesting that one of the families who filed the tort claim be looked into.
Seely-Roberts says that since their son didn’t make varsity, this family has been harassing her. Additionally, she asserts that the school district has failed to take appropriate action to protect Heather Seely-Roberts from harassment and disparaging behavior, as well as from promoting the false narratives claimed by the parents, because of the family’s connections to PPS administration, including their friendship with Chief Human Resources Officer Sharon Reese.
Seely-Roberts is requesting that PPS investigate a mass anonymous email sent to parents and staff in Lincoln that Seely-Roberts believes was a bullying incident by one of the families involved in the tort action.
According to an email signed by a concerned LHS parent, which Seely-Roberts’ tort claim indicates was written by a parent who is involved in the tort claim against her and the district, the PPS ADMIN is permitting Roberts to continue coaching despite the evidence that shows she is unfit to continue in a coaching role at LHS. I have inquired numerous times about the measures PPS is taking to stop Roberts from harassing, intimidating, and retaliating against my son and other Lincoln High School students in the future, but I have never heard back or received any action plans that would stop Roberts from continuing to act in such an abusive manner.
Seely-Roberts also requests that the district limit the family’s ability to communicate in the future and inform them that such messages would not be accepted.
The district’s complaint against Seely-Roberts describes an incident that occurred during a meeting on October 9th, when Marshall Haskins, the athletic director for the Portland Interscholastic League, met with Lincoln parents to learn their opinions about Seely-Roberts following the filing of complaints. According to the lawsuit, at that meeting, one of the parents allegedly confronted, harassed, and intimidated other parents who had come to support Heather Seely-Roberts.
Accounts from many Lincoln parents who were present to speak with Haskins are included in the coach’s complaint. The lawsuit claims that one parent, one of the parents named in the tort claim against Seely-Roberts and the district, was aggressive toward other people present.
She entered the outdoor lobby as additional parents came and started shouting and screaming the F word while speaking on the phone to someone (probably her husband, who arrived shortly after). She read an email from the mother of a former Lincoln basketball player that was included in the coach’s complaint to the district, and she seemed to be getting more and more upset. In front of around seven parents and a number of staff members, she caused a very awkward and angry scene in the school office with her antics and erratic conduct. Additionally, there were kids in the school’s adjacent foyer.
Seely-Roberts further alleges that PPS is in violation of Title IX since Lincoln sports director Matt Wiles oversaw the tryouts, and she is the only coach in the district mandated by the school to run open gyms under Haskins’ supervision.
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–Nik Streng investigates Oregon high school athletics. You may contact him at @NikStreng or [email protected].
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