Super lets Pace baseball players charged with felony to stay with team

Santa Rosa County School Board Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick is allowing three Pace High School baseball players facing felony criminal mischief charges to continue to stay with the team in the playoffs, despite the district's Code of Student Conduct's stipulation that such charges preclude a student from participating in extracurricular activities until litigation demonstrates the student’s innocence.  

The four students involved -- three baseball players and a non-athlete -- were charged with a felonywhen  law enforcement determined that in March the students had broken through the back entrance of Pace's Stonebrook community, a gated neighborhood, to enter without a pass. Since the cost of damages exceeded $1,000, the charge became felony. 

Saying that the Pace baseball team's national ranking was inconsequential in his decision and that he would try to get the district rule changed for next school year, Wyrosdick said, "It doesn't matter if it was the toe-tappers in Gulf Breeze or the baton-twirlers in Navarre, we would have acted in the same fashion." 

At 6:30 p.m. on May 13, the school board meets in special session, regarding issues unrelated to the incidents.