I’ve lived in this town my entire life.
I graduated from Staples High School. I worked there in many capacities, from 1982 until 2021. I was especially proud to spend 19 years as head coach of the boys soccer program.
I have always supported the school, the administrators who run and oversee it, and the superintendent and Board of Education.
Today however, I am heartbroken, ashamed, and furious with my alma mater, and those who oversee our school district.
Seven months after suspending head boys soccer coach Russell Oost-Lievense and freshman boys coach Chris O’Dell — both former Staples captains who have given back to the program and town for 9 and 20 years, respectively — and 4 months after not renewing their contracts, the Board of Ed has finally granted one of them (Russell) an appeal hearing.
Russell Oost-Lievense, in front of the Staples boys soccer trophy case.
It’s scheduled for this Monday (May 12), 9 a.m. in the Town Hall auditorium.
But it may be a show trial.
A hearing is not a court of law. The Board of Ed is both judge and jury.
Their own lawyer has determined which witnesses may be called, and what evidence — for example, Freedom of Information Act-available emails — may be considered.
Russell and Chris — beloved by nearly all their players, well-respected in the soccer community, Staples grads and good human beings — are being treated like criminals.
Actually, worse. Criminals have their day in court. The jury does not hire an attorney who determines what evidence they can and cannot see, and who they can and cannot hear from.
In a court of law, that’s decided by an independent judge.
They include testimony about a lack of athletic department policies and training pertaining to the case, the manner in which allegations against other coaches have been handled, and much more.
Those pieces of evidence, I believe, are crucial to the 2 coaches’ appeals.
But if the board does not see and hear them — because the superintendent objected to them, and the attorney the Board of Education hired deemed them “irrelevant” — then justice will not be served.
And two excellent coaches, excellent people, and excellent representatives of the school they graduated from (and love) will be kicked to the curb.
Our Board of Education can do better. Our superintendent can do better.
And the student-athletes who adore these coaches — and, agonizingly, cannot attend a 9 a.m. hearing to support them — deserve much, much better.