School Principal: Sorry for 'Visceral Reaction' to Kobe's Death

Washington state's Liza Sejkora said NBA star's death was 'karma'
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 5, 2020 3:33 AM CST
School Principal Who Wrote About Kobe 'Karma' Apologizes
Former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning pays tribute to Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna at the NFL Honors football award show on Saturday in Miami.   (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

While many are still mourning the death of Kobe Bryant, others are more ambivalent, considering the late NBA star had been arrested and accused of rape when he was 24 (the charges were eventually dropped, and Bryant settled with his accuser). Liza Sejkora, the principal of Camas High School in Washington state, was in the latter group, and a Facebook post about it now has her in hot water. "Not gonna lie. Seems to me that karma caught up with a rapist today," Sejkora wrote on the day Bryant died, per ABC News. She reportedly made other related posts as well on her Facebook and Twitter accounts, which she's since deleted.

Now, after screenshots of the posts circulated, as have calls for her to resign, Sejkora is saying sorry. "I have some personal experience that generated the visceral reaction," she tells KATU. "This was a situation where I didn't think before I posted, and I'm terribly regretful about that." In a statement, Superintendent Jeff Snell says Sejkora's actions "did not meet" the high standards set for staff, but he added that the district will help the principal gain back the community's trust. One senior at the school isn't happy with that stance and wants Sejkora to step down. "When you are a public figure and people look up to you and you are the principal of a school full of kids and you say something like that? That's ridiculous," Logan Schmidt says, per ABC. (More Kobe Bryant stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X