Vaughn Jones reinstated as Coolidge boys’ basketball coach after court ruling
By Mark Giannotto December 30, 2015
Less than two months after he was fired by D.C. Public Schools, Coolidge boys’ basketball Coach Vaughn Jones has been reinstated, effective immediately, following an order issued by a D.C. Superior Court Tuesday, according to Jones’ lawyer. The school’s junior varsity coach, Antonio Pixley, also will return to his job.
Jones, one of the District’s most prominent basketball coaches, was fired days after The Washington Post reported that the city had ruled that Coolidge star senior Justin Route was ineligible to play in the District this season. DCPS deemed that Route was a fifth-year student after receiving a ninth-grade transcript from his former school, Paul Charter School, that differed from the one on file at Coolidge. DCPS students can only compete in high school athletics for four years, so Route was deemed to have exhausted his eligibility. The Coolidge transcript showed Route, who transferred to the Northwest school for the 2012-13 school year, repeated the eighth grade at Paul, which would have made him eligible this year.