THE HEAD OF Section ONE SPORTS IN NEW YORK STATE TALKS ABOUT PROACTIVE MEASURES TO STOP RACIAL TAUNTING

One of the lead sports stories in NYS this past week as reported by the Journal News focused on what Section One is planning to do about racial taunting and cultural insensitivity at athletic events involving public schools in Westchester, Rockland, Dutchess, and Putnam counties.

This is big news – not just for NYS  - but it’s hoped that forward action by this oversight athletic commission will take some real proactive measures to allow our student-athletes to compete in venues that are safe from abhorrent racial slurs.

This, of course, all stems from those disturbing incidents at Pearl River HS and Our Lady of Lourdes HS from this past spring and winter. As we have discussed on this show several times over the last few months, it just struck many observers as to why so little was being done to address this issue in terms of either disciplining the perpetrators — and even more importantly, doing something of a direct nature to educate the kids in the school district and its students about race relations in this country.

And in truth, there have been calls for Section One leadership – which oversees athletics for HS in Westchester, Rockland, Dutchess, and Putnam Counties – to have stepped forward and do something. That’s why I was so eager when Dr. Marc Baiocco, the current head of Section One, was gracious enough to come on my WFAN radio this morning. As you’ll hear on the podcast, he handled all the callers and their comments with great dignity and insight. Listen to the show here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff