SFHS Principal confirms FDLE investigation
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
ALACHUA, Fla. – In a letter sent to Santa Fe High School families today, Principal Dr. Timothy Wright confirmed that Florida Department of Law Enforcement officers were at the school yesterday “as part of an ongoing investigation” and that the district is conducting a “separate investigation” of Head Baseball Coach Travis Yeckring.
Dear Santa Fe Parents,
As I’m sure most of you already know, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was on the Santa Fe High campus yesterday as part of an ongoing investigation. Although I can’t share any additional information, I can assure you that the school and the District are cooperating fully with the investigation.
You may have also heard that Mr. Travis Yeckring, the school’s media specialist and head coach of the baseball team, has been placed on administrative leave by the district while it conducts a separate investigation. In the meantime, coaching duties will be taken over by Chris Malphurs and Patrick Treese.
Obviously, there are a lot of rumors about this situation, and I know that many of you and other people in the school community have questions. Unfortunately, the school can’t provide any more information at this time.
If and when we have more information we can share, we will certainly do so. In the meantime, please be assured that the safety and well-being of Santa Fe High’s students continues to be my number one priority.
Thank you, as always, for your continued support of our school.
Sincerely,
Dr. Timothy Wright
Principal
Santa Fe High School
It’s about time that the school or school board released something. They have left parents “hanging” too long since the story originally broke before Spring Break. Parents of students at SFHS should have at least been informed before social media speculation began to run rampant.
Wonder what circumstances caused FDLE to be in charge of this investigation. I was always under the impression that local law enforcement run most investigations like this. Maybe I’m completely off base about that..
You aren’t off base at all. I think your hunch is right.
You are correct – it would be normal for the Alachua Police Department to investigation any allegations at the school but the school resource officers for SFHS are Alachua Police Department officers.
There are comments on reddit that the school resource officers were aware of the issues and failed to do anything about it. If true, that could be why the attorney hired by the Thompsons, Bobi Franks, reported it to FDLE instead of Alachua PD, which has jurisdiction over SFHS.
Damn, that’s horrible. Appreciate the response…makes more sense now.
You are 💯correct
Just so happens a APD former school resource officer is currently running for city commission in High Springs, whose citizens, as always, should check out their candidates and be informed voters.
Actually, FDLE was involved before the Thompsons were made aware of what was going on. The article posted on 3/8, I believe (that has the letter from Bobbi Franks) in it states that “after a community member who has been interviews by FDLE regarding the ongoing investigation reached out to Thompson he decided to make the investigation public”. While I’m grateful that the Thompsons brought this to light the FDLE investigation was underway before that.
Just throwing it out there, could be hazing related. If the ROs knew about whatever was going on and didn’t do anything, that seems more likely than all the kid-diddling accusations in the comments.
This is such a black eye for Santa Fe, at this point it’s probably best for all parties to go ahead and fire Yeckering. Set an example! The kids will no longer respect this man. As they shouldn’t.
I am all for accountability. But it IS possible that Yeckring hasn’t done anything wrong.
I agree 100%. But this will always hang over his head. Obviously if he DID do something that’s one thing. But even if not, he will always be “that coach that was investigated for something”. I can see him wanting to leave if innocent to get a fresh start somewhere. Assuming he’s innocent. If he’s guilty, maybe he can coach the Raiford prison baseball team.
Not only him but anyone else who turned a blind eye. Parents need more information on why this is being escalated to FDLE instead of local law enforcement. Were the resource officers aware & didn’t nothing or worse? Were other teachers or coaches aware or involved? Something more happened. All parents that have children at the school need to know what is going on because likely other students may be involved. Parents need to be able to talk to their children & see if they’re possible victims & get them the help they need.
@ Enough is Enough: So, you’re saying fire him, whether he’s done anything wrong or not. That would “set an example” alright, an example of guilty until proven innocent rather than the way our Constitution says innocent until proven guilty.
Thank God the Constitution protects us from people like you.
@ steely dan: As a parent of a kid on the team, I AM saying he should get fired. Not a fan of him, not a good coach. Thankfully my son is on varsity because he does not care about the JV at all. The program as a whole needs to be reset. This is just another notch in his belt of incompetence. And we still have not heard anything. JV was supposed to have a game Thursday at bucholz but that got canceled so we could have a parent meeting. Well conveniently, that meeting has been canceled and bucholz has scheduled another game. So JV is out of a game and the parents are still left wondering. I wish us parents would get together and boycott until we get answers. Santa Fe WILL lose players because of this.
@SF Parent…He has NEVER cared about JV and as far as Varsity goes, he only cares about his little favorites that he thinks will get his name out there. Never been a fan of him and he is horrible coach. He makes horrible coaching decisions and doesn’t even have his favorite players best interest at heart. He just wants to get a college coaching position!
SF has BEEN loosing players because of him and 2 of the other coaching staff. There are 2 coaches on that field that act like they actually care about the boys. Just sit down and look at the top notch players that have transferred over the last 3 years!
@SF Parent…He has NEVER cared about JV and as far as Varsity goes, he only cares about his little favorites that he thinks will get his name out there. Never been a fan of him and he is horrible coach. He makes horrible coaching decisions and doesn’t even have his favorite players best interest at heart. He just wants to get a college coaching position!
SF has BEEN loosing players because of him and 2 of the other coaching staff. There are 2 coaches on that field that act like they actually care about the boys. Just sit down and look at the players that have transferred or completely quit over the last 3 years!
He should have been fired YEARS ago! None of the baseball players liked him. He’s a giant jckass.
ACPS should worry less about placing false narratives about concerned parents in Newberry and focus on the real issues!! Abuse of kids, failing schools, buildings falling apart! Tina Certain should get off her “segregation” train and see the real issues.
SPOT ON!!!
Our local school board is impotent and incompetent.
Go to UF and the Public Relations school and find a student to help you out. They will do better than the current “leaders”
The school board is using a 25 year old PR plan to deal with crisis communications – say nothing and it will all go away. The only thing more outdated than their crisis communications plan is their 1997-era clip art logo.
Right off the bat the principal states the obvious: “as most of you already know” starts his day late and dollar short message to parents. Why do “most of you already know?” Before the school informs the parents? Shame on this principal, the parents should not have had to read about this problem in the Chronicle.
Is this the same Chris Malphurs that ran GHS in the ground? Man the future of Santa Fe baseball is looking great. Players better transfer to Newberry ASAP.
You’re an idiot, a troll, and a clown. Don’t quit your day job.
You are 100% correct!!
Why of corse it is along with Oak Hall!
Could be a ball player cut from the team trying to get back at the Coach with false allegations. This happens frequently