Ray McDonald played eight NFL seasons, but his career came to an abrupt end following a string of arrests that included a rape charge. Now, some 18 months since he last was on the field in an NFL game, McDonald is in the news again.
A Heyward, California school board placed superintendent Stan Dobbs on paid administrative leave this week while it investigates his role in bringing McDonald in to talk to at-risk high school students last February.
"I will always continue to put the Made In Hayward children first no matter what non-actions are taken against me in public," Dobbs said Thursday, via MercuryNews.com. "I will just continue to pray for the board members and their decisions -- that is the best I can do."
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The abrupt decision, made at the start of the school board's Wednesday meeting, casts light on McDonald's talk to a group of at-risk students at Tennyson High School, arranged through the Hayward Promise Neighborhood initiative. McDonald has pleaded not guilty in Santa Clara County Superior Court to criminal charges of raping an intoxicated woman in December 2014.
McDonald's appearance sparked outrage from some parents, which led to an apology from the school district, and a subsequent talk to those same students from attorney Gloria Allred in April. Allred represents the woman who claims that she was sexually assaulted by McDonald.
"I never feel like we should have apologized because, like I told Stan, we didn't bring him (McDonald) in as a role model," said school board president Lisa Brunner. "We brought him in as a motivational speaker to convey, 'Don't do what I did. I screwed up my life,' so I was mad about that because none of it was done with the board."
McDonald played for the 49ers from 2007-14 and spent several months with the Bears last offseason.
