'Vacate the title': Downey school board weighs in on Astros

DOWNEY - It seems everyone has something to say about the Houston Astros, including members of the Downey Unified School District Board of Education.

Though she did not mention the team by name, it was no secret who Board Member Martha Sodetani was referring to when she made a few brief comments on the cheating scandal that has embroiled Major League Baseball for the last few months, voicing her disappointment in the organization’s lapse in judgement, especially when held against the six pillars – trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship – of character counts.

The Astros were disciplined by Major League Baseball for stealing pitchers signs, including in 2017 when they won the World Series, beating the Dodgers.

When asked why she brought up the scandal in the meeting, Sodetani said that, “It’s in the news; our students are talking about it.”

“Our Character Counts coalition has resumed after about four or five years of being absent,” said Sodetani. “In today’s Press-Telegram, on the front page…there were comments by an [Los Angeles] Angels player about how he has lost respect for members of the Astros team, and he was using words that are in our Character Counts.”

“Our Victory with Honor [program] for our sports fields, it just teaches our children from the beginning about Character Counts. That boils down to anything, whether it’s sports, whether it’s business, whether it’s school district, or whether it’s city.”

“When it comes to cheating…if our students were involved in something like that, it just wouldn’t fly on our fields.”

Board President Donald La Plante also contributed to the conversation, saying, “vacate the title.” La Plante later said that he was merely responding to Sodetani’s comments.