Last spring, Regina Dorsey, a mother from Alexandria observed a change in her son at 16 immediately after he was expelled from an iPhone group chat concerning football enthusiasts at Hayfield Secondary School. The case of Regina and her son is as follows. Worried about this, Dorsey went ahead and paid a visit to Hayfield’s principal, Darin Thompson but what she received instead were bald answers that never addressed the concern she had.
They were discussing in the chat until Thompson said the boy had been banned from the chat as he was told the boy had not signed a ‘social media waiver,’ a new rule that had been introduced by a recently appointed head football coach, Daryl Overton. As a football coach, Overton was successful in Freedom High School situated in Prince William County; he had fired the Hayfield Ahmed on February 13 telling him that he was replacing him in charge of the football program at Hayfield. Overton stated that he would be still working in the events by days as security guard in Hayfield.
He came to Hayfield with a lot of expectations after his performance in Freedom but he is now the center of probation from other unexpected issues, including ‘donation’ from a ‘Team Mom/Manager’ who alleged that she used to work with Overton for six years at Freedom High School . Later, Overton came up with a MoneyDolly campaign to help raise some funds. social media retailing site, which has been estimated to have raised about $29,630 in an internet social site. For this story, The Fairfax County Times spoke to a number of sources and agreed with them all to be unnamed; these sources wished to remain secretive as they feared revenge on them or their children will be taken.
Overton had apparently been hired by Thompson to attract better football talent to their school. In particular, Thompson uses the social network called X, which is the Twitter, and gives a brief description of himself saying he is a ‘Lover of Sports’ with adding the hashtag #WashingtonCommanders to his profile stating that he is a fan of football.
The more Dorsey investigated, they found that what she uncovered and other members of the Fairfax County community are beginning to notice, children and even an increase in the verbal abuse, bullying, and transfer into the spectrum, allegedly through Overton and his selective new staff.
An anonymous source of the Fairfax County Times said, “This is the highest levels of HS recruiting scandal in the history of this state” and referring to it as cheating.
More than 30 new faces, high school rookies enrolled at Hayfield that following year as well as subsequent years including Freedom High School and other football powerhouses including Dematha Catholic High School in Hyattsville Maryland, ominous rumoured-to-be rise attributed to Overton according to Fairfax County Teaching Coaches and some of the community patrons. The current 2024-2025 season list on MaxPreps for schools that are open for the public. com even list a DeMatha transfer student. It is for this reason that some of those transfers have failed to observe residence rules set out by Fairfax County Public Schools or the VHSL the body that oversees sports in Virginia.
For example, one address given to the Fairfax County Times regarding a new transfer is for “Old Hayfield Road”, and if one goes to Alexandria and searches this road will not be found.
From what has been gathered, the one in charge of the probe currently is Fairfax County Public School Assistant Superintendent, Michelle Boyd who was informed about the incidents in the current month. Boyd informed Dorsey that she would be the one directly to assist inverifying the legitimacy of such home addresses for any student transfer to Hayfield Secondary School. This Overton dismissed all the allegations of impropriety that the media had carried and stated that they were just the rants of an annoyed mother. “This is nothing but the lady upset that she couldn’t be team mom. ” He added: ”I do everything I do with high integrity…Mr. Jacobs told the Board that Day had contacted him and his wife threatening to harm them and their children The allegations stem from Day’s claim that he ‘conspired with his wife, an employee in the Kent County Adult Detention Center, to bring fictitious prescriber data to the FCPS substance abuse program in 2010 and asked to take a drug test. ” A spokeswoman for
Dorsey testified that she saw “Freedom players coming to practice with the players from Hayfield school. ” “Overton, in a van brought them to the Hayfield weight room in March while the Hayfield players were in there, and Overton made sure the Freedom players using equipments over the Hayfield players own although the Freedom players were not officially as transfer students,” she said.
The object of those recruitment strategies exceeded the mere amount of personnel to be hired. Speculations had been made suggesting that some of the incoming players had failed to reside within the Hayfield district which is contradictory to the set Virginia High School League Rules and Regulations of the Fairfax County Public Schools that does not allow non-residents to take part in athletics. It also as mentioned in the FCPS rules that if the students enroll themselves in FCPS school but they do not live the FCPS district then he or she will have t pay the charges of the tuition.
He also talked about various methods in financial malpractice fully agreeing with Dorsey. On Feb. 29, an individual whom introduced herself as Sarah Boutwell as a “team mom/manager” and stated that she had been working with Coach Overton for the previous six years at this past December’s meeting, informed team parents about a “new season fee” of $200 “Game Day Meals”, two skims/helmets, or decals, or an “alternate jersey they get to keep at the end of the season.
She said “The total is due by June 1st,” In the email, Olivia gave the option of paying for the fee in installments with the payments broken down in 15th of March, April ,April and 1st of June respectively. She noted: “They can pay for the items in cash or use cash App to settle the bills. ”
The fact that individuals demanded money was puzzling to Dorsey; she telephoned Hayfield’s director of student activities, Monty Fritts, for an explanation. The культуры statement was sent by Fritts in the conversation with Dorsey in his email on March 8 where he confirmed, “Because of our conversation, there have been many changes made. ”
In his response, Fritts said, “There is No collection of fees through 3rd party vendors(Cashapp)” However, he also indicated that “Cash is always accepted(we never discussed removing cash payments)”
He continued: “This will be the first collection cycle, and in fact there are no penalties for a student who has not settled their dues by June 1st. ”
Fundraising was not over as this was only the first half of the documentary. Soon, Overton in mid of April conducted a fundraising campaign using the MoneyDolly platform for a football team. Overton urged followers on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to donate, writing on MoneyDolly: “As of today I am beginning a new story thus I come from back to back State Championship Seasons and I’d like to do the same here at Hayfield. ” While MoneyDolly has an amount of $2,855 indicated as “collected”, on the donation page, it shows 381 people or teams who supported the cause raising a total of $29,630.
This part of the myths, Boyd also failed to know MoneyDolly fundraiser and is also looking into that aspect of the scandal as well.
Adding another layer, one day a friend of Dorsey said that a Hayfield coach that was on the Overton staff has proposed to her to use her address to enroll for one of the team players-a thing that is unlawful regarding FCPS rules. “I said to her ‘This is not a favor, and it is prohibited,’ and she responded, ‘Okay, I comprehend it is unlawful, and I am okay. ’” Her said to her friend, via text message: “…what they are doing is unfair and illegal, they should not recruiting Parent [s] to lie so as to assist in stacking football team. ”
Students began coming home and telling parents that Freedom High School players were being dropped at areas like the stafford and Fredricksburg exits off I-95 and was later picked up and transported to Hayfield. Also after practice, it was stated that those selected as players would be picked at the 7-Eleven located next to Hayfield and then proceed by a van to I-95.
Halfway through April the primary source revealed that Overton’s nephew, Jeffrey Overton Jr. opened his trial in Hayfield after transferring from Freedom High School. For his X account, he is no longer known as Ralphy but ‘RB/DB|Hayfield Secondary School,’ owing to his participation in the running back and defensive back roles. New enrolment also revealed that Jeffrey Overton Sr. , the teen’s father, would replace Couch as defensive coordinator at Hayfield. The man is not even described as a teacher but an “instructional assistant” on the official website of Hayfield Secondary School of FCPS.
Soon after the mother began questioning the claims of expenditure, Dorsey’s son received one day an eerie message on the iPhone from Overton Sr, the coach brother, which stated: ‘Trust is like a mirror You can never look at it the same again once it’s broken. ’ Even before the message was read out in the court, the boy was expelled from the iPhone group.
Dorsey said that her son moved to South County High School in Lorton and he still struggles with trauma symptoms and finds therapy to address the alleged bullying for the new coaches and players on the Hayfield team. From the taped conversation with the Hayfield principal and the director of the student activities, it is noted that when Dorsey son told them that he wanted to leave the team due to the changed dynamics of the team, the administrators took no serious action.
From what sources have also said, another player, who was expected to transfer to West Springfield High School, told the administrators that he was publicly naked- shamed for by one of Overton’s new coaches. They also accused the player of having his belongings flushed and thrown out of his locker in front of the members of the team and other employees while being treated to verbal abuse in forms of racial sexual intonations. Citing other sources, it was reported that his helmet was taken from him and he was informed that he could not make the roster.
Those well acquainted with the situation inform the Fairfax County Times that the circumstances swirling surrounding Hayfield Secondary School cast doubt on the integrity of high school sports in Fairfax County and the potential repercussions that can extend towards all teams in the region.
On May 17, a parent volunteer emailed parents about the Parent Meeting Notes and sending them a donation with the subject line “Parent Meeting Notes & Team Store. ” In this email, the volunteer included a fundraising section that called the amounts required as a ‘donation’ ranging from $100 to $200. The expenses like $200 for “10th-12th grades season donation” which included the expenses on “game day meals, jersey, compression shirt, and skims” are unusual hairstyles.
Things such as the “9th grade season donation of $100 donation” had categories like “game day meals, compression shirt. ” She also listed some “Cash Collection Dates.
Even at one hundred players together with the normal team roster, the fees could amount to an additional $20 000, a situation that could be regarded as a mere requirement for hockey participation in a public school sports program. This leads to more questions, such as when Dorsey provided Fritts more details about the upcoming season, Fritts said the budget would only be $43,000.
However, the controversy surrounds Overton’s choice of conduct has been a history that was not directly linked to his employment at Hayfield. In Freedom High School he got a chance to showcase his scoring talent with scoring machines. Scored of the Freedom Eagles team was 813 points while the scored of opponents was 138 points in total in the season 2023-2024 According to the data presented on the website MaxPreps of scores. This kind of performances for games that season were; 48/0, 73/0, 65/0, 66/0, and 75/7.
W hen at Hayfield, Overton came up with a new saying ‘Hayfield by forty,’ means defeating teams with at least forty points difference was used in combination with the most colorful social media picture.
There is one story from the coaching career of Overton that was widely covered by the media – in December of 2022 Freedom High School hand the strongest league defeat to James Madison High School in Vienna 3-0. The aftermath of celebrations became less joyful as players from Freedom side went over to the Madison side, and to the students in the stands to start fueling provocation and anger amongst them; which culminated to moments of confrontation between the two sides before school authorities intervened to hold back the angry Madison players.