Blue Valley dance coach: Racial texts about student hurtful but taken out of context
The day after she lost her job over allegations she texted a racist comment about a student, a former Blue Valley dance coach apologized to school officials in an email and acknowledged that her words were hurtful.
But she also said in that May 2 email, which she shared with The Star on Friday, that the comment had been taken out of context, acquired through a violation of her privacy and was never meant to be racist.
Former Blue Valley Northwest High School dance team coach Carley Fine is one of several defendants named in a lawsuit filed by former student Camille Sturdivant, a black dancer who says she experienced racial discrimination on the Dazzlers dance team.
According to the lawsuit, in her senior year, Sturdivant had discovered text messages in which Fine and former team choreographer Kevin Murakami expressed dismay that Sturdivant was chosen for the University of Missouri Golden Girls dance team when another dancer they knew had not. Fine texted that Sturdivant made the team because of her race.
Sturdivant also alleges that in July 2017 Murakami told her that she could not dance in a performance because her skin was “too dark” and would clash with the costumes. Sturdivant, whose suit also names the school district, the high school principal and a district teacher, further claims the district mishandled her reports of racism and failed to protect her from being ostracized from team events.
In Fine’s email, addressed to principal Amy Murphy Pressly and Assistant Principal Nacole Boan, she provided more context surrounding the text message exchange that lost her her job and has received national attention after it was included in Sturdivant’s lawsuit filed in December.
According to the lawsuit, Fine handed Sturdivant her cellphone to play music for a dance performance on May 1. The suit states that the text exchange between Fine and Murakami popped up on the phone, and Sturdivant photographed it.
But according to Fine’s email, the texts were written two days earlier, and a person would have to scroll through dozens of messages to find them.
“I gave my phone to Camille to play music and believe that it’s a violation of my privacy that she would read my messages instead of using it as intended,” Fine wrote to Pressly and Boan.
The message Sturdivant photographed and showed to school officials read as follows:
Murakami: I can’t believe maggie didn’t make it again. I’m heart broken.
Fine: I KNOW AND CAMILLE MADE MENS. I can’t talk about it.
Murakami: THAT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. i’m so mad.
Fine: It actually makes my stomach … Hurt. Bc she’s (expletive) black. I hate that.
Murakami: me too.
Fine characterized the exchange as a conversation between two close friends who were dismayed that a friend did not make the Mizzou dance team and “never meant anything racist toward Camille.”
“I was saying that the mutual friend that we knew did not make the team because of the diversity protocol of this particular university,” Fine wrote to high school officials. “I didn’t mean that Camille couldn’t make it unless she had a particular skin color. I was saying that what I think was one of the most skilled dancers trying out didn’t make it because the school is known to have a diversity issue. I do see how Camille would be hurt if she read this, but it was never meant for her eyes.”
Murkami has denied making the comment about excluding her from a dance because her skin was “too dark,” calling the allegation “made up” and “absolute nonsense.”
Fine told The Star that Murakami was not living in Kansas in July 2017, when Sturdivant says the comment was made. He was in Maine performing with the Maine State Music Theater.
Fine also showed The Star an email sent to dancers and parents in which Sturdivant is first on a list of 2017-18 contemporary dance team members, so she would not have been excluded from a performance in July 2017, Fine said.
Sturdivant’s lawsuit claims that in September 2017 her parents met with Pressly to talk about the exclusion, and the principal told them that dance coaches could choose who they wanted to perform.
District officials recall that meeting to have been in September 2016, and said the Sturdivants did not mention the “too dark” comment, only their concern that their daughter had been excluded from a July 2016 performance.
Sturdivant’s attorneys have not responded to four requests for comment from The Star. A public number listed for Mike Sturdivant was disconnected.
A representative from University of Missouri Athletics said race is not taken into consideration during Golden Girls tryouts.
“The Golden Girls are selected by a judging panel/committee that judges everyone equally based on performance,” Deputy Athletics Director Nick Joos said in an email.
In statements released this week to the media and parents, Blue Valley Schools said that Fine’s employment with the district was separated on May 2, a day after officials learned about the text messages and Murakami’s alleged comment for the first time.
“As soon as the district and Dr. Pressly were aware of any racially-based animus being expressed about (Sturdivant), prompt and effective corrective action was taken,” the district’s court response states.
The separation wasn’t classified as a termination by the district, according to a human resources department email Fine showed The Star, and she was compensated fully for her contract.
“It was simply two dance teachers talking in private about how the selection process doesn’t always reflect the skills of the athlete,” Fine wrote in the email to school officials. “This was taken out of context and used against me because I used a single word that made others uncomfortable.”
In a statement to The Star on Wednesday, Fine said she could not go into detail about her side of the story. “I am anxiously looking forward to defending myself,” she had said in an email. “It’s tempting to answer accusations, especially when so many of them are false and/or misleading. My legal team, however, insists we defend our case in a courtroom, not on the internet or the evening news.”
This story was originally published January 25, 2019 at 4:15 PM.
