Hamilton County schools Superintendent Rick Smith transferred Ooltewah High School’s basketball coach to the district’s Textbook Depository pending the results of the criminal investigation into the rape and assault of a player during a team trip days before Christmas.
Smith announced Monday that coach Andre Montgomery had been transferred to a non-teaching role, adding that Montgomery was not allowed on school property or to interact with students.
“I don’t want anyone to think [Montgomery] is being punished or penalized, at this point,” Smith said in a press conference Monday. “He is being transferred at this point. If we find other reasons to address the coach, we will.”
According to a letter in Montgomery’s personnel file dated Jan. 11, Smith told him that “the purpose of this transfer is to ensure the efficient operation of Ooltewah High School throughout the upcoming weeks.”
The letter also says that Montgomery is not to initiate contact with any employee of the school system, attend any school-sponsored event without permission or discuss the events of Dec. 22, the day of the assault, this anyone besides law enforcement, investigative officials and attorneys in the case.