Reno Gazette Journal

Coach claims racial bias in firing

School president says other issues to blame

- Jim Krajewski and Siobhan McAndrew

Recently fired Bishop Manogue Catholic High School girls basketball coach Sara SchopperRa­mirez said she was warned before the start of the basketball season about “brown kids” attending the school on scholarshi­ps getting more playing time at the expense of white players.

After a winning season during which Schopper-Ramirez said she played the best players, many of whom were minorities, she was fired. Schopper-Ramirez said she believes she was fired for not following the directions.

Schopper-Ramirez said that in a meeting with school President Matthew Schambari and Athletic Director Frank Lazarak in August, Schambari told her to watch out for the perception that minority students who attend the private school on scholarshi­ps were getting more playing time.

Schopper-Ramirez recorded the conversati­on. She provided a 30-second clip to the Reno Gazette Journal of who she said is Schambari speaking.

On the recording, a man’s voice can be heard saying, “You have a disproport­ionate amount of your kids are financial aid kids, right, and they are coming from public schools, and then you have these Catholic school kids. You have, your, probably your team and football are probably our two most diverse teams,” the man says. “And so that is going to create some issues with our

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