By September of 2021 the deck had become a hostile environment. This hostility was led by Coach Vinuela and was hard on both coaches and student athletes. One of the moms wrote the district and site expressing her concerns. She would have to follow up SEVERAL times before receiving a response. The response was weak and no accountability would be executed. It's important to note that at this point multiple coaches, students, and now parents have been communicating about the poor decisions Coach Vinuela and former principal Laettner continued to make with regards to this. These decisions resulted in neglect, abuse, and endangerment.

There are several more example like this one. These examples show the effort that FUSD ignored and continues to IGNORE. ALL FUSD BOARD MEMBERS SHOULD BE CONCERNED AND WORKING TO CORRECT THIS. This is highly reflective of many of the issues faces district wide, not just in the FHS region.

Her email:

I am writing about several concerns I have regarding Fresno High School’s Water Polo season, facilities and off-season opportunities. My son is a junior, a full IB student, and has played water polo and swam since his freshmen year of high school. He loves water polo, swimming, most of his coaches, and his teammates.

My son Daniel Ruiz, is a verbal processor. He talks through everything, it’s how he learns. Last week my son’s coach John Vinuela wanted Dan to stop talking. In front of other coaches and his teammates he put his hand in his face. He held it there until he was talking on the phone. I spoke to the girls coach about the incident and she said she would talk to both John and the VP this coming week. She didn’t seem hopeful this behavior would be taken care of. After giving it some thought, I feel it’s better to bring it up myself. This is unacceptable behavior by a coach, a teacher, and a parent. There have been other incidents over the years with this same coach and his son Ian.There was another incident with this same coach this past summer. The kids went to play in an away tournament in Santa Cruz. Coach Vinuela didn’t want to stay the entire time, so he left two kids in Santa Cruz. Those two kids crammed into another car. As a parent this is scary for me. What if an accident had occurred?

This past weekend he played in FHS’s annual boys’ water polo tournament. All games were held at Hoover’s pool and not Fresno High School. It’s looking no home games will be played at FHS this year, due to not having working equipment. Hoover not only has working equipment, but a beautiful score board. Fresno High’s score board has holes in it, where the warrior logo used to be. It generally looks like it’s about to fall apart.

Myself and my son are heartbroken that the club team, Echo Aquatics, will no longer be at Fresno High School. It will most likely move to another high school with less “pool restrictions”. Why would FHS have other restrictions other school do not have? I was disappointed Jen isn’t working to keep the club at FHS. She seems defeated and lacks the energy she once had. Water polo and swimming are white dominated sports. This club provided kids with the opportunity to participate in club aquatics that would otherwise not be able to. The program reflected the diversity of the school and had creative ways to keep as many kids included as possible. Being that my son isn’t white, this means a lot to us.

The club also gave kids, like my son, the opportunity to teach. He was one of the water aerobic instructors. This opportunity allowed him to grow in a new way and interact with people he would otherwise not. It will also be something he will include in his college applications.

There were several Saturday’s that I would drop my son off to teach water aerobics and watch another club lock up the pool and leave. When the coach would arrive to FHS she would be locked out. They would have to wait for security to let them in. Why would a non-school associated organization have keys to the pool, the actual coaches do not have? This is a huge safety concern.
 

This brings me to my next concern, with the club leaving does that mean coaches will be leaving as well? If the other coaches leave, my son will be heartbroken.

This past year has been very hard on everyone. Our children’s mental and physical health need to be our first priority. Working facilities and off-season opportunities are a huge part of a kids school experience. The aquatics program at FHS has been one the saving graces of this past year, a regular thing for my son to look forward to. We consider Christian, Allie, and Jen part of the village that is helping raise him. I would like to know why other schools in FUSD have working equipment and club opportunities, but FHS does not. Do other sports coaches mistreat kids and create safety concerns?

Sincerely,
Mercedes Ruiz