KATHLEEN, Ga. — Two Houston County families have filed a Civil Rights Complaint against Veterans High School after they say a coach associated with the school used the “N-word” to address their daughters.
When Antwishia Thomas heard about the incident back in October, she couldn't believe it.
"Not ever thinking that I’m going to get a call that someone is telling me that the coach called my child the 'N-word,'" said Thomas.
Thomas says Daniel Satterfield said the word twice in practice at Tumblecheer Heroes.
Cortese Walker said the junior varsity coach heard the whole thing and messaged her.
When they reported the incident to the school, all the coaches denied hearing it, including the JV coach.
"We can’t just let it go we can’t just say, 'Oh, it’s OK," said Walker.
Satterfield no longer works with Veterans, citing paperwork issues.
His wife, Katie, is the head cheer coach.
Cheerleaders Zoee and Jada feared there would be retaliation during practice, and according to their moms, there was.
"I don’t want my child to go through life thinking, 'Oh, I was wrong for standing up for what is right,'" said Walker.
Thomas and Walker have filed a Civil Rights complaint.
They say they don’t feel like the school took appropriate action.
"I want the administration to hold them accountable, not just sweep it under the rug," said Thomas.
The school told both moms there would be an administrator at all the practices after the incident occurred.
Thomas said at one of the practices shortly after the incident, there were no administrators other than the coaches.
Katie Satterfield has since resigned from her position as head coach, citing “health issues,” but remains a teacher at Veterans.
Walker said if the school doesn’t acknowledge what happened to prevent it from happening to someone else, a lawsuit isn’t out of the question.
We reached out to the Houston County Board of Education for comment and spokesperson Beth McLaughlin said they had not received a copy of the complaint.
She added, “in this situation, a report was made about a person, who was not a school employee. Reports are taken seriously and investigated thoroughly. The school investigated and dealt with it appropriately, to include that this person is no longer assisting with this team.”
We could not reach either of the Satterfields for comment on Thursday.
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