Cleveland Coach Faces Suspension

A City Section subcommittee recommended Monday that Tom Smith, the Cleveland High B football coach, be removed from all coaching assignments for the 1987-88 school year. Smith allegedly recruited junior high athletes for Cleveland while teaching at Madison Junior High in North Hollywood.

Despite the recommendation, the district’s Interscholastic Athletic Committee postponed a verdict until its next meeting May 18.

“We need to talk to some more people at both schools,” City Section Commissioner Hal Harkness said. “The feeling is that we don’t have all the facts yet.”

The subcommittee, which included City administrators Lee Joseph and Don Thomas and teachers Sal Castro and Sue Kamiyama, told the IAC that Smith used “undue unfluence” in persuading students at Madison to attend Cleveland. Most Madison students live within the attendance boundaries of Grant High, which brought the recruiting allegations to the attention of the IAC in January.

Smith attended the IAC meeting Monday but declined comment on the charges.