A day after Deion Sanders was reportedly being investigated for assaulting an employee at Prime Prep Academy, a school he helped co-found, the NFL Network analyst and Hall of Fame cornerback has been fired from the Dallas-area charter school, the Dallas Morning News reported Friday.
"Effective immediately, Deion Sanders is no longer an employee or representative for Prime Prep Academy," the school said in a statement.
According to the police report, Kevin Jefferson, a faculty member at the school, said that Sanders became angry during a faculty meeting when the subject of academic struggles among student athletes came up. That led to a confrontation, and Jefferson said that Sanders became "a little upset and a little emotional" when talking about the subject.
That emotion gave way to hostility, according to Jefferson, who told the Morning News on Thursday that "[Sanders] walked back to the back of the classroom to where I was sitting in a desk … As he got closer to me, I stood up because he was kind of standing over me and he just kind of kept talking to me and at me and then he just grabbed me by my throat and kind of threw me to the ground. Some people had to get him off of me."
Sanders originally called the allegations nonsense.
The Person claiming assault is a fake administrator whom does absolutely nothing to help the school,kids or teachers reach our goals. Truth
— DeionSanders (@DeionSanders) October 10, 2013
Sanders also spoke with WFAA-TV about the incident on Thursday, the day before he was fired.
"He was not beat up," he said of Jefferson. "He was not hit. He was none of that. Mr. Jefferson and I got into a confrontation about the welfare of these kids. And we'll get into another one. Until you start taking care of these kids, I'm going to be on a rampage. Until we start serving these kids in Dallas like the kids are served in Fort Worth, and better, I'm going to be on the same rampage, because the teachers are frustrated. We're frustrated."
According to CBSDFW.com, Prime Prep Academy was established by Sanders and a partner in August 2012 and has an enrollment of nearly 300 students.
The school's Chairman of the Board of Directors, T. Christopher Lewis, supported the decision to fire Sanders.
“On behalf of the board of directors of Uplift Fort Worth, CDC, the governing body for Prime Prep Academy, I write in support of the decision to end the relationship between Prime Prep Academy and Mr. Deion Sanders. It is commonly known that Mr. Sanders is a co-founder and has served as an ambassador and employee of the school since its establishment. His positive contribution is appreciated and regarded as a laudable example. The school family wishes Mr. Sanders much success in his future endeavors.”