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Philadelphia School Questioned
Darryl Schofield, right, is the coach of the basketball team at the Lutheran Christian Academy prep school in Philadelphia.
(By Mark L. Baer For The Washington Post)
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Schofield said his players never lacked heat and he often spends more than $500 a month heating their residences. He said yesterday that the players now live in three properties.
"It wasn't what I thought it was going to be," said the former player, who now attends another college preparatory school. "I thought it was going to be an opportunity to get my grades up and get more exposure to college coaches. But it ended up being a big step back."
Schofield said most of the basketball players come to him through recommendations of high school coaches and former players. Schofield said he interviews the player and his parents or guardians and decides whether to admit them. If the player has severe academic deficiencies, he can still be admitted if he produces positive character references. "I don't turn anybody down," Schofield said.
The Post obtained the transcript of one player who enrolled at Lutheran. The player left high school as a junior after the 2003-04 school year. He had repeated the ninth grade and had a 1.33 GPA in the core courses in English, math, hard science and social sciences the NCAA requires for initial athletic eligibility at a four-year college.
According to the transcript, the player made grades of C or better in only three of the 14 core courses needed for initial eligibility and had not yet made the minimum score needed on the SAT or ACT. During one academic year at Lutheran Christian, the player passed six core courses, making four grades of A and two of B. He also scored high enough on the SAT to qualify for admission to a major university.
Schofield said Rice had similar academic problems when he enrolled at Lutheran Christian.
"When we first started, we had to take the kids no one else wanted," Schofield said. "When we started, I was a little afraid myself because I grew up in the inner city. But those were the kids we had to save. We butted heads every day for about a year. But it was the right thing to do, so why fix it if it isn't broken?"
Staff writers Eli Saslow, Camille Powell, Eric Prisbell and Steven Goff, and researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report. Saslow and Goff reported from Philadelphia.
Lutheran Christian Academy in Philadelphia has amassed an impressive record on the court, but its questionable academics have come under scrutiny.
