Former Basic Academy baseball coach Scott Baker is accused of bullying a former player and spreading lies about the player and his family after he was fired, according to the player’s parents, with multiple claims substantiated by documents given to the parents by the Clark County School District.
Sela Gaglia and Kekoa Won say Baker spread false allegations that the family was the reason for his firing and that they initiated the investigation that led to Basic forfeiting games and missing the playoffs last season.
Baker denies bullying the player and maintains that the family was behind the investigation that led to the forfeitures and the loss of his job.
Gaglia and Won said in an interview that Baker’s mistreatment of their son caused him to have suicidal thoughts but that he is in a better place now. The Review-Journal has agreed not to reveal their son’s name.
“Baker’s treatment of our son had driven our son into depression, and he was having thoughts of not wanting to live any longer,” Gaglia said. “Thankfully, he came to us for help. We got him into therapy and brought the situation to the school’s attention.”
In an interview with the Review-Journal, Baker said he was never notified by Basic or CCSD administrators that he was under investigation for bullying.
“I was never brought in by Basic administration or CCSD over any bullying allegations,” Baker said. “I was not a part of any investigation for bullying while coaching at Basic.”
Basic and CCSD officials did not return multiple requests for comment.
Now, the player is back with the team for his senior season, but the parents remain frustrated with a lack of communication from CCSD about why Basic and the district failed to take what the parents consider appropriate action after the first alleged incident in 2022 and why they allowed the situation to snowball.
“We don’t have the answers,” Gaglia said. “They’re supposed to have the answers.”
The situation has led CCSD Region 3 superintendent Deanna Jaskolski to review Basic’s and CCSD’s handling of the bullying claims, the parents said.
The parents say Jaskolski is also reviewing Basic’s decision to allow Baker to use an unauthorized electronic system to communicate with players and parents that they say Baker used to spread the lies about their son.
“There were a number of missteps in the school’s handling of this situation both before Baker was released and after that we have elevated to higher levels of the district to review,” Gaglia said.
Sequence of events
This account is based on interviews with the parents and Baker; school documents, some provided by the parents and others obtained by the Review-Journal under the state open records act; a restraining order request against Baker made by the family that was ultimately denied; and an incident report filed by the family with the Henderson Police Department.
On April 10, Basic said Baker was dismissed from his position, with the school saying in a statement that day that Baker is “no longer with the team.” The school has given no reason for Baker’s dismissal, repeatedly saying it cannot comment on personnel matters.
Gaglia said the same day Baker was fired, one of the family’s bullying claims against him was substantiated by then-Basic principal Gerald Bustamante, according to a document provided by the parents. She said Bustamante told her Baker was not released because of their claim, that it was for personnel matters and “that it was an unfortunate case of timing.”
That was not the impression Baker had. He believed the family had reported him about the use of possibly ineligible players, according to information shared in a group chat that was reported to the family by other parents. Basic already had been forced to forfeit at least four games over ineligible players and was under investigation for more potential forfeits.
“After being released, Scott Baker immediately removed our son from the communication platform Bustamante had allowed him to manage unsupervised and began meeting with parents and players to smear our son and our family,” Gaglia said. “Baker told families that we were responsible for him being fired and for several kids being deemed ineligible for recruiting violations. Families present shared with us that Baker went so far as to say that our family had followed kids home and videotaped them without their knowledge, which was a complete fabrication. This lie created hysteria amongst the players and families.”
Unaware of what Baker had said, their son attended practice the same day Baker was fired and received threats of violence and had items stolen out of his locker, Gaglia and Won said. This assertion was later substantiated by CCSD student success coordinator Eliel Rubio, according to a document provided by the parents.
In an incident report filed with the police, the family said: “The players asked for a players only meeting where several players confronted son about why he got the coach fired and calling him a snitch.”
Bustamante did not substantiate the incident because the family refused to name the players involved, the parents said.
“Because we stand by our claims that all these kids were victims of Baker’s manipulation,” Gaglia said. “We wouldn’t name specific kids, so since we wouldn’t name them, he wouldn’t substantiate the claim.”
A CCSD document obtained by the Review-Journal describes an unsubstantiated claim against Baker in which the complaining party does not name the alleged perpetrators.
Another alleged incident
Two days after Baker’s dismissal, the family went to the school to speak with the administration, and when they drove by the school, they said they saw Baker, despite having been fired, with the players on a sidewalk. Gaglia said the players and Baker made intimidating hand gestures toward them, and one player sped past them in his truck.
Baker denies that happened. He said he was at the school that morning to get his things from the baseball field, but that was the last time he was on school grounds.
“The morning of the 12th, I came back on property with a U-Haul to grab my stuff during school hours,” Baker said. “… I packed all my stuff and left. I haven’t been back since.”
The family filed a request for a restraining order with Henderson Justice Court after this incident, and Gaglia and Won’s son left the team.
“When Scott and the players saw our car, they began to physical posture and throw hand gestures at our car intended to physically intimidate (the family) from entering” the school, the restraining order request says.
The request for a restraining order was denied, with no reason cited.
On April 30, Basic had to forfeit all of its league games and other games for using an ineligible player and did not advance to the playoffs.
Gaglia and Won claim Baker told parents and players on the team after he was fired that their family reported ineligible players to CCSD. Baker also accused their son on a now-deleted episode of a local baseball podcast that he and his parents turned in players to make them ineligible.
However, the parents provided what they say is a statement from CCSD that said the investigation into the Basic baseball team regarding the forfeitures came from an outside anonymous tip.
CCSD “initiated an investigation into Basic Academy of International Studies’ baseball program following a tip received from a source with no connection to the Basic Academy school community,” the statement reads.
Baker maintains that the family was behind the reporting of ineligible players.
“This is an obvious form of retaliation for what happened in 2022 in the playoff game,” Baker said. “That’s what it is.”
Alleged history of bullying
In the restraining order request, the family states, “between May 2022 and April 10th, 2024, there have been multiple documented instances of Scott Baker’s bullying” of the player.
In 2022, the alleged bullying of the player started when he did not attend a dance recital that players had been instructed to attend to support the school dance team, Gaglia and Won said. Their son had an opportunity to meet with college coaches in town that conflicted with the event, and they said they tried to communicate with Baker to let him know their son could not attend.
Gaglia said this was the only time the baseball team was required to attend an after-school event not related to baseball.
“We communicated with Baker that our son had this academic opportunity, and Baker told us that our son could not attend,” Gaglia said. “We stepped in to explain that the situation was important to our son’s future athletic and academic opportunities. We attempted to communicate with Baker, but he did not communicate back with us.”
At Basic’s next game, the playoff opener, Gaglia and Won’s son was not in the starting lineup after being a starter all season. Won said his son asked him for advice, and he told him to speak with Baker about it.
“When our son asked Baker why he was being benched, Baker took him into the dugout and began to verbally berate and intimidate him,” Gaglia claims. “Our son called his dad and asked for help, and his dad could hear Baker screaming at him on the phone, and he could hear that our son was afraid and alone in the situation.”
Baker denies that happened and said school police were called during the verbal altercation with the player and father.
“His name was not in the lineup, the kid saw it immediately, went down and got on the phone with his dad,” Baker said. “Players saw it, and he comes back into the dugout and starts kind of going off on me.”
Won said he went to the field to try to get his son, and after meeting with Basic administrators, Bustamante said the son should go back into the dugout. The son did not play in the next three games, and Gaglia and Won eventually took him away from the team on the advice of his pediatrician.
Gaglia and Won said Baker told teammates and other assistant coaches to not speak to their son and that it took a toll on his mental health.
Baker denies that happened.
“All of the players and coaches were instructed to completely ostracize our son, to not speak with him or acknowledge his existence at all. … This was a calculated bullying technique Baker used,” Gaglia said. “It took a serious toll on our son’s mental health. We tried to work with Bustamante and CCSD … but they failed to take any action whatsoever.”
The parents said they requested Baker be removed for the playoffs while the incident was being investigated, but that administrators did not respond to their attempts at communication until after the playoffs.
The Wolves went on to win the Class 5A state title in 2022.
No problems in 2023
“We did end up meeting with Bustamante, Baker and the athletic director after the season was over and the playoffs were over,” Gaglia said. “At that time, Scott Baker apologized. He admitted that he was frustrated that with so many high-profile players on his team now he could no longer control their schedules and other teams that they play with. He said he sought to make an example out of (our son).”
The parents said all parties agreed to bring back the player for the 2023 season.
Baker said he held a team vote on whether to have the player come back to the team. Baker said he was against it, but was fine with giving the player a second chance.
“I was against it at the time, but second chances, and the administrators were all kind of in agreement that if we had this meeting and everything went good, we can have him back,” Baker said. “We had a really good meeting. The next year he comes back, did not have one issue the whole year, zero, not one altercation. He started for me every game.”
With two new assistant coaches, Gaglia and Won said the situation was more manageable, and their son regained his starting role. They said he leaned on those two assistants while claiming he was still shunned by Baker.
Basic lost to Desert Oasis in a 5A Southern Region semifinal with a berth in the state tournament on the line.
Alleged bullying resumes
As Basic prepared for the 2024 season, Gaglia and Won said Baker’s bullying started to intensify. They say it started with Baker trying to “undermine” a relationship the son had with a former Basic assistant he bonded with on the 2023 team.
They claim Baker would talk down about the former assistant, who was providing private coaching to their son.
Baker denies any of that happened.
Before a game early in the 2024 season, the parents say Baker was “hostile” toward their son and disrupted his pregame routine. At a game on March 25, they claim Baker yanked the power cord to a machine their son was using and yelled to “‘clean this up’ in an aggressive and threatening tone.”
Bustamante substantiated that this incident occurred, according to a document provided by the parents. Baker denies the incident.
“I have not seen one thing that has my name on it that says Scott Baker bullied him,” Baker said. “I was told that players were brought in and they did all sorts of investigating once I was gone about them bullying him.”
Before Basic began the 2024 season, CCSD received a tip regarding several freshmen who played on Baker’s club baseball team. According to the Nevada Administrative Code, which are guidelines and regulations Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association member high schools must follow, athletes are not allowed to play in their eighth-grade year for a coach on a club that is affiliated with the high school they are going to.
Documents obtained from CCSD in a record request detail the investigation into ineligible players.
Baker was initially suspended, but asked parents to go to the school and demand that he get his job back, according to screenshots from a group chat with parents obtained from CCSD in a records request. Baker claimed on the podcast that Gaglia and Won were responsible for turning those kids in to CCSD, according to an audio clip provided by the parents. The episode was later deleted.
“We now know Baker was being investigated for recruiting violations and personnel matters,” Gaglia said. “Though we didn’t know it then, Scott Baker had concocted a story that our family was behind those investigations.”
“We remained unaware that the Basic administration was conducting their own investigations into Baker,” Gaglia added. “It’s clear now that the school administration knew about the likely connection between their ongoing investigations and Baker’s increased bullying of our son. Despite this knowledge, they failed to protect our son and continued to put him in harm’s way.”
Gaglia and Won brought forth a bullying claim April 4 based on the “clean this up” incident. They said their son was interviewed for that claim April 9, the day before the school dismissed Baker. Won said Basic administration told his son to go back to a game Basic had that day and “act like nothing happened.”
Baker was fired the next day, and Gaglia and Won’s son was threatened by teammates and had his belongings stolen, they said.
“We have never sought action against the players, as we believe the players were victims of Scott Baker manipulation to retaliate on his behalf with disregard for the consequences the kids would face if our family did not recognize they were being deceived,” Gaglia said.
Kevin McPartlin, an assistant superintendent in the education services division and student athletics and activities in CCSD, later substantiated that there was a culture of bullying created by Baker in the program, according to a document provided by the parents.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.