The mother of a Rosendale-Brandon Middle School student says the athletic director has apologized for criticizing the student for the way he smiled for a track team photo. Christine Ewerdt says athletic director Jeff Thomas sent her an email stating her son Cole and another student made the pictures unusable, that he (Thomas) was very disappointed, the pictures would have to be retaken and that her son would not be allowed to be in the retake. Ewerdt says her son struggles with attention deficit disorder and his big smile showed how excited he was to be part of an organized team for the first time in his life. “It made me sad because you’re taking a kid who already struggles and he’s always told he’s not doing this right, he’s not doing that right, and now guess what, he’s happy and smiles and that’s not right either,” Ewerdt told WFDL news. Ewerdt posted her concerns on Facebook. Several parents called the school to show their support for Ewerdt. She says the athletic director called her back Friday morning to apologize. “It will never change the fact that he (athletic director) was offended when he saw that picture. The apology is great and I appreciate it tremendously,” Ewerdt said. “…but it doesn’t change the fact that someone looked at that picture and was offended enough to tell me that he couldn’t be in another picture and they would have to have a retake for the team. That’s a pretty tough pill to swallow.”
