Mom sues to get son back on Hinsdale South basketball team

The mother of a suburban high school basketball player is suing the school district and several of its staff members in federal court, alleging her son was cut from the squad this fall in retaliation for his bullying complaint against a previous coach.

Erin Savage filed the lawsuit last week on behalf of her son, Brendan, a senior at Hinsdale South High School.

On Monday, she filed a motion asking for a preliminary injunction to make the school put her son back on the team immediately as the basketball season has begun. According to a Chicago Sun-Times report, the school reinstated Brendan to the team Tuesday.

“It is awesome,” Savage told the Sun-Times on Tuesday. “He can finally start playing (Wednesday). They have their first game (Tuesday night). He will miss that but they play Downers Grove South on Friday and that is going to be a big game.”

According to court documents, Brendan played on the school’s varsity team as a sophomore and junior and earned all-conference honors both years.

But last school year, he filed a complaint with school officials alleging that the team’s former head coach, Michael Moretti, had bullied and humiliated him.

District officials investigated and determined there wasn’t sufficient evidence to support the bullying accusations. However, they did find that the coach acted in ways not in keeping with district standards, according to a letter exhibited in the lawsuit, and removed Moretti from the position.

Moretti was replaced by Michael Belcaster, who is a “close personal friend” of the former coach, according to the lawsuit.

Earlier this month, the suit states, Brendan took part in tryouts for the basketball team. On Nov. 7, Belcaster posted a list of students who had made the team and Brendan wasn’t on it.

The suit names acting Hinsdale Township High School District 86 Superintendent Linda Yohnke, Hinsdale South Principal Patrick Hardy, the school board, Belcaster and several other district employees as defendants.

https://basketball.dailyherald.com/news/20231128/mom-sues-to-get-son-back-on-hinsdale-south-basketball-team/