Surviving Indian Creek School » Behind the Jersey: The Toxic Culture of Retaliation and Abuse at Indian Creek School’s Athletic Department

In schools across the country, athletic programs are meant to empower young people—teaching teamwork, resilience, and discipline. But at Indian Creek School (ICS), the athletic department has become a breeding ground for corruption, exploitation, and abuse—and the community has largely looked the other way.

At the heart of this scandal is a coaching staff and administration that has not only failed to protect students but has allegedly enabled illegal and dangerous behavior, retaliated against whistleblowers, and sacrificed student well-being for trophies and institutional pride.

Alarming Allegations Against the Coaching Staff

Multiple reports and firsthand accounts reveal a deeply toxic athletic culture under the leadership of:

Jimmy Little – Boys Basketball Head Coach
Todd Kerr – Assistant Coach
Fredricka Newman – Athletic Director

These figures are allegedly responsible for:

Promoting adult male students to bunk with minor students, rather than preventing such arrangements altogether;
Operating buses while under the influence of drugs, thereby putting children at risk;
Permitting a baseball team to engage in underage drinking with no meaningful accountability;
Employing physical and verbal abuse as “discipline”; and
Failing to report these dangerous practices to Child Protective Services (CPS), in clear violation of Maryland’s mandatory reporting laws.

All while the school administration appears to turn a blind eye.

Exploitation Masquerading as Mentorship

Instead of nurturing young athletes, the ICS coaching staff reportedly has abandoned the human side of coaching in pursuit of personal accolades. They:

Recruit new players and discard existing ones with little to no communication,
Construct a hostile team environment that demoralizes those who do not align with their ambitions, and
Create a climate where fear and favoritism replace teamwork and mutual respect.

This is not coaching—it is emotional and institutional abuse. The deteriorating performance on the scoreboard mirrors a decline in morale and student engagement.

Whistleblowers Vilified While Criminals Are Protected

The situation becomes even more egregious when whistleblowers come forward. When members of the ICS community—including Eric and Evan Hemphill—tried to expose misconduct, the administration retaliated with expulsion, termination, and character assassination instead of reform.

Those entrusted to safeguard the welfare of children became enforcers of silence. The overall effect was not protection of the students but a preservation of the institution’s tarnished brand.

The Liza McLaren Factor: Retaliation That Follows

To compound matters, Eliza McLaren, the former Associate Head of School who once helped shape the athletic department’s culture, left ICS for a leadership role at The Wellington School in Ohio. Her departure did not erase the legal issues; it merely transferred the same culture of silencing whistleblowers along with her. McLaren’s involvement in a retaliatory lawsuit against the Hemphills now poses substantial reputational and legal risks for her new institution.

Wellington now inherits not only a leader with a troubled history but also the baggage of an unresolved, multi-layered scandal.

How Is This a “Safe Community”?

Ask the real questions:

How can a school call itself safe when it promotes arrangements that put minor students at risk, enables underage and irresponsible behavior, and suppresses abuse allegations?
How can a coaching staff remain immune when whistleblowers are routinely punished and marginalized?
Why does the community rush to protect institutional image at the expense of protecting children?

This is not a community founded on safety or integrity. It is an institution that shelters dangerous practices under the guise of tradition and discipline.

Don’t Let Your Child Be Next

Parents, students, and educators—this is your wake-up call.

Children are being exploited and placed in risky environments for the vanity of adults.
Staff and faculty break the law, evade accountability, and retaliate harshly against those who dare speak out.
Those entrusted with the care and protection of our youth have, in effect, become part of an elaborate cover-up.

The Time for Silence Is Over

The darkness within ICS athletics is not an isolated issue—it is symptomatic of deep institutional corruption that extends from the boardroom to the locker room. It is time to:

Investigate every coach and administrator involved,
Hold the Board of Trustees accountable for systemic failures, and
Support the whistleblowers who risk everything to protect students.

Real leadership does not hide behind jerseys, titles, or legal maneuvering—it exposes the truth, safeguards the vulnerable, and fixes what is broken. ICS had its chance; now it’s time for justice.

— Surviving Indian Creek School BlogTruth | Accountability | Protection for All Children