Director of Education Maefau Dr Mary Taufetee has decided to pause the operations of the ASDOE Athletics Office for a minimum of one week to conduct a full internal review relating to the Girls Basketball Tournament. This means DOE sports are suspended for at least one week. And she gave all coaches and principals whose schools are participating in the 2025-2026 girls basketball league up to 5pm, March 3 to remove all social media posts, comments or shares “related to the recent conflicts and public disputes regarding the ASDOE and girls basketball.”
She said failure to comply with this directive would result in automatic school disqualification in the girls basketball season for the remainder of the current school year. She warned that this consequence will be enforced without exception
Her directive was contained in a March 2 letter addressed to principals and coaches, and a separate letter addressed to students.
The DOE director reminded that at the start of the season all coaches signed an ethical agreement with a provision for social media responsibility. Part of the clause states, “I will use social media in a professional and respectful manner, refraining from posting any content that is offensive, misleading or violates student privacy. I will avoid engaging in online arguments, criticism or behavior that could bring disrepute to ASDOE or its partners. I understand that failure to follow these guidelines may result in disciplinary action.”
The DOE director said in her letter, “Unfortunately social media has been used in ways that have caused division, confusion and harm to our athletic community. The requirement to remove all social media posts related to the recent conflicts and disputes was necessary, she said, to reset our culture and refocus on what truly matters, the students.
Maefau also spelled out that effectively immediately there shall be no additional posts, shares, comments, reactions or any form of online engagement regarding the discourse from this basketball season. This includes indirect commentary, reposted material or participation in pubic discussion threads regarding the ASDOE leadership or the athletics program as a whole.
Over the past week there has been a flurry of social media posts referring to two Tafuna High School players being allowed to play in the basketball tournament that opposing schools felt should have been disqualified.
In another development the Director of the Athletics Department, Suaese Pooch Taase, has been suspended with pay. When contacted Taase said he was instructed not to approach the media but to refer all questions to the DOE Director.
KHJ News has asked Director Maefau for comment but she has not responded.
