Story highlights
Nick Andre, 16, is a lineman on a 1-7 high school football team
He was asked to write a poem for English composition class
In it he was critical of coach, team's "superstar"
School reversed its decision and he's back at school, back on team
Nick Andre called his poem “Stupid.”
Officials at his Ohio high school called it hazing and harassment.
The 16-year-old lineman was kicked off the Rittman High School football team earlier this week after he read a lament about his squad’s 1-7 season for an English composition class.
The kicker: He was suspended from school for four days.
Andre said he wasn’t hazing or harassing anyone, and he didn’t mention any names in his poem.
You be the judge. Here’s the text of “Stupid:”
Losing season,
Favoritism,
Nonstop passes from best friend to best friend.
Continuously doing what doesn’t work,
The inability to separate being a father and a coach.
Dropped passes,
But yet still the “superstar,”
Yeah, right.
Where’s my scholarship?
I can drop passes,
Run backwards,
Miss tackles,
And be afraid to take a hit.
That’s top of the line Div. 1 material right there.
If that’s what they wanted,
They definitely got it.
This whole town will be glad when he is gone.
For anyone who doesn’t understand what I am saying?
AKRON’S SCREWED!
According to CNN affiliate WJW, Principal Nick Evans said Andre was suspended because he “wrote a mean and disrespectful poem about another student and our athletic director/head coach.”
Julie Andre, Nick’s mother, told WJW she met with Evans on Monday and was told the poem was bullying.
But on Thursday, Andre was told he was back on the team in time for the last two games of the season and could come back to school.
James Ritchie, superintendent for Rittman School District, said after reconsideration, Andre’s punishment had been reversed.
Andre, a junior, had already served two days of detention, but they will be expunged from his record.
He seemed a little unsure as to what type of reception he would get from his teammates when he returned to the locker room, but hoped for the best.
“I haven’t really gotten to talk to any of them yet about what they feel. If – I mean, I’m sure they’ll all be happy I’m able to come back and everything, but i haven’t heard anything,” he told CNN.