Calvert Hall elaborates on its concerns

After Mount Saint Joseph and Calvert Hall announced this week that they would no longer play St. Frances in football, the varied public reaction included allegations Thursday from St. Frances principal Dr. Curtis Turner that racism factored into those decisions.

On Friday evening, Brother John Kane, president of Calvert Hall, challenged those allegations and elaborated on his school’s initial statement Thursday that safety concerns initiated the decision not to play St. Frances this fall.

“Ugly characterizations of Calvert Hall have been made in response to our decision to cease playing football against St. Frances Academy,” Kane said at the beginning of the statement. “Wrong and unfounded suggestions that this decision is racially motivated have appeared in the media and on social platforms. We will not stand silently in response.”

The Panthers are the two-time defend- ing Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference champions and have developed into a national powerhouse, ranked No. 4 last season in USA Today’s Super 25.

At St. Frances, which has a mostly African-American student body, Turner said the decision by MIAA rivals to not play the Panthers is racially motivated.

“Absolutely, and I’m not going to shy away from it,” Turner said. “No one wants to talk about it directly. We’re the oldest Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the only difference between us and the other Catholic schools is the social economic demographic.”

Citing safety concerns regarding football nationwide over “head, spine and other serious injuries” that happen at all levels of the sport, Kane said in his statement Friday that his school takes “reasonable precautions to minimize the risk of such injuries for all players,” and this is one of those precautions.