It’s time San Luis Obispo High School puts student safety over sports

June 7, 2024

OPINION by AMBER WILKERSON

Why can’t San Luis Obispo High School and the district get it right and prioritize student safety over competitive athletics?  Or even do both at the same time?  It seems like every chance they get to demonstrate that they have learned from past mistakes and do right by the safety of students – they go in the other direction sending a metaphorical middle finger to district taxpayers and voters.

Faced with an opportunity to show that they have learned, something they purport to teach every day to their students, they get earn a failing grade.

Let’s take the hiring of new soccer coaches for both girl’s and boy’s soccer at SLO High School. The same two administrators – Rollin Dickinson and Desiree Dellinger – who ignored reports of sexually predatory behavior and then attempted to promote now fired child sexual abuser Jeff Brandow – are still hiring coaches.

That, in its own right, makes no sense and demonstrates no interest in student safety. But, then you look at the hire they made for the girl’s team – former SLO High School Principal Leslie O’Connor –the initial principal who tried to cover up Jeff Brandow’s abuse.

O’Connor, Dickinson, and Dellinger all failed to respond to and report Brandow’s abuse to Child Protective Services and instead tried to promote him. Instead, they let him continue to coach, and continue to abuse underage students. These three are complicit and accessories to child abuse.

Hiring O’Connor to coach the same aged female students he failed to protect when principal creates a significant safety concern. It’s not if something will happen under this new coaching structure, it’s when, and what will happen when it does? Probably the same attempts to cover up the bad behavior, just as Dickinson and Dellinger have in the past.

It makes sense that O’Connor was hired if you really think about it. These administrators are all complicit and involved in a conspiracy to keep the truth from the taxpaying public. The only way to keep the information secret is to continue to promote and hire each other.

In the end, it’s all about judgement.

Judgement is something we count on our school leaders to have,  but is something all three have demonstrated they do not have.

Here’s a new example: Dellinger also has a son who plays high school soccer at SLO High School. For nothing else than to remove the appearance of additional backroom deals to advance her son’s playing interests over other students, Dellinger should have recused herself from the selection of the new boy’s coach.

But why should we expect her to have good judgement in this situation, if she didn’t have the integrity and leadership skills to step in and protect students despite months of multiple reports about Jeff Brandow, and if she couldn’t with the hiring of O’Connor? Why should we expect any leadership out of Rollin Dickinson if he just sits idly by watching this happen?  It’s time for all three to step aside from their administrative positions, or for the San Luis Coastal Unified School District Board to do so.

Equally concerning is that local media outlets are not covering the entirety of this story, leaving the public uninformed. Only those of us who are close to the situation really know what is going on at SLO High School, but when shared with others, they are equally appalled at the lack of moral leadership.

Please help shine a spotlight on abusive and predatory behavior in our schools, before it happens again.

Amber Wilkerson is an educator. She is also the mother of one of the students who is an alleged victim of Jeff Brandow.