I'll address this here:
I called Mr. Clayton and Mr. Spexarth, among other parents, because it's becoming clear things are happening. I wanted to see if there was anything else besides performance at play here, and all of the parents said no. We talked, on and off the record for a while, and that was it. I did not call them looking for a specific comment about their kids being benched. But when I went to write the story, I had extra quotes so I used them. I thought they were harmless.