“06880” founder and executive editor Dan Woog writes:
This is not going away.
The Board of Education, superintendent of schools, and Staples High principal and athletic director may hope that the tsunami of outrage following the non-renewal of boys soccer head coach Russell Oost-Lievense will disappear soon.
School will be out in a month. Certainly then, the thinking goes, students, parents and alumni will move on to another concern.
But that is magical thinking. It’s as unconnected to reality as the 14-hour “appeal hearing” in which 8 people were not allowed to testify, crucial evidence was withheld from the Board, and administrators (over and over) “did not recall.”
This is not going away. In fact, much worse lies ahead.
Taxpayers are seeing how much money is being spent in cases involving top administrators.
Parents across the board – in sports, academics, extracurriculars and special education – are coming forward with stories about disrespect and poor treatment. They are legion.
And students are watching.
At Town Hall last week, and again at Staples 4 days later, they saw their anger and concerns brushed aside, dismissed, even mocked.
They heard that Westport holds its coaches, teachers and students to a high standard. Yet they have seen over and over that the standards for an investigation, or an appeal hearing, can be appallingly low.
And though this has moved beyond a soccer-only situation, the entire school saw that a near-70-year-old program that earned national renown has been decimated.
Not once since October has the athletic director, principal or superintendent reached out to the 60 young men in the boys soccer program and asked, “How are you doing?”
The saddest part in this nobody-wins drama is that it did not have to be this way.
For 7 months, those in power could have found a solution. They could have reached out, talked, planned next steps to help the soccer coach and program, improve policies and procedures, and avoid a townwide uproar.
No one in power took those steps. And now – in the aftermath of what is widely seen as an immensely flawed hearing, and despite even more offers to avoid even more uproar – they are doubling down on their decision.
In a school district that decries bullying, students have learned that adults can be bullies too. Students learned that quiet discussion, compromise and resolution can be viewed as weakness. They learned life-long lessons about arrogance, stubbornness and cowardice.
This is not going away. Buckle up.