At Monday’s 14-hour Board of Education hearing, members voted 5-1 against overturning superintendent of schools Thomas Scarice’s decision to not renew the contract of boys soccer head coach Russell Oost-Lievense.
Robert Harrington was the only member voting to reinstate the coach, a former Staples captain whose appeal was bolstered by the presence of dozens of players. Harrington writes to “06880”:
1) The Board of Education failed Westport in the soccer head coach non-renewal hearing. Why did they act like a rubber stamp, and were not concerned with all the withheld evidence and witnesses from our administration?
2) At the tennis coach non-renewal hearing earlier this year, BOE chair Lee Goldstein recused herself. For this soccer hearing, it was first selectman candidate and BOE member Kevin Christie’s turn. Why did Kevin recuse himself, and avoid having to make an important decision? Is that leadership?
3) Staples Principal Thomas Stafford was not in command of any details at the hearing, and represented the Westport Public Schools poorly. Why was he asked to give evidence, yet other valuable witnesses were blocked by Westport Superintendent?
4) I am calling for athletics director VJ Sarullo to immediately step down. When will the drama in the Staples athletics department end?
5) Restoring coaches’ confidence in Westport: What is next for non-renewed soccer coaches?
Robert Harrington
I love being on the Board of Education. But during large parts of a 14-hour testimony on Monday, I felt our community was let down by both our school administration and the actions of the Board of Education.
I am not afraid to vote in a different direction than my fellow board members.
I respect my fellow Board of Education colleagues — but not on this matter. The lack of any questions by the majority of the board toward the administration speaks volumes. Their silence was deafening. The absence of sitting BOE member and nominated Democratic candidate for first selectman Kevin Christie stood out.
I have been a strong supporter of superintendent Scarice on many issues. However, I was highly disappointed with his decision to block 8+ witnesses from the hearing on Monday. This indicated a clear bias.
There are dozens of emails that board members are being prevented from seeing. What is in them?
There was only a very limited investigation into “the incident” in 2024. The investigation basically only lasted from October 24-29. After this date, no additional information or witnesses were considered.
However, there was no communication or updates to the coaches. The administration was playing the long game, and stretching thing out — just as they had done with the tennis coach investigation.
I have serious concerns about how this administration conducts investigations. I also saw this in the antisemitic bullying situation with the Goldberg family last year. There seems to be a pattern here. It is my strong view that the very limited investigation into the soccer coaches was an egregious failure of governance and due process.
Furthermore, the performance and lack of clear answers from the three administration witnesses was highly concerning to me. It doesn’t appear that this was concerning to other board members.
An image of “3 stooges” entered my head on my midnight walk home: the superintendent, Staples principal and athletics director. They could barely recall basic facts about the case.
Staples principal Thomas Stafford seemed to recall almost zero details on any of the matters. His testimony was disrespectful to Westport, the players, and certainly the coaches. Was this the best evidence that was on offer for Westport? Are they taking you seriously?
From left: principal Stafford Thomas, athletic director VJ Sarullo and superintendent of schools Thomas Scarice, at Monday’s hearing.
I truly believe athletic director, VJ Sarullo should lose his job. He is overseeing a sports department that is bungling from one crisis to another. Soaring legal costs. A non-renewal case for a long standing tennis coach that was rightly thrown out, as the paperwork wasn’t correctly done.
A community of sportsmen and women and parents that seems to be turning against him. A tone-deaf approach to abolishing the 60+ year tradition of the Bock “S” award. The list is building. Numerous coaches have reached out to me since the hearing on Monday.
Athletic director VJ Sarullo replaced the traditional block “S” with a generic plaque this year.
Monday’s hearing was an embarrassment to Westport Public Schools and our town. There are more hearings on the way – and probably more legal challenges too.
No wonder our athletic director can longer afford to keep a 60-year+ old Block “S” tradition alive, with all these legal bills building up on his watch.
Let me summarize the lack of evidence and transparency in this hearing from your school district:
The Administration objected to 8 witnesses — including the former athletics director (who was trashed by the Superintendent during the hearing, with zero right to respond). They also did not permit the assistant suprintendent for human resources and coaches in other sports programs at Staples to testify, who could provide insight into training and policies.
The Administration prevented us (and you) from seeing dozens of emails. We will never know what is in them.
When I asked our attorney the weekend before the hearing about this exclusion of evidence, it was suggested I might need to recuse myself, and risk being responsible for a “7-fold increase” in legal costs for BOE.
No one that was a witness to either the 2022 or 2024 incidents was called as a witness by our administration.
Students who were direct witnesses in 2024 came forward to be interviewed by our administration. This was rejected.
Many current players supported coach Russell Oost-Lievense at Monday’s hearing.
The administration admitted that a 2022 coach evaluation was not produced — or they don’t have it. (The notice of non-renewal from our administration did not explicitly refer to an incident in 2022. However, it formed a large part of the administration’s oral testimony)
The Administration would nor or did not make available a report into their own independent investigation of the 2022 situation for the hearing. It never presented the report to the coach back in 2022.
– The Administration would not or did not make available the Department of Children and Family Services report from 2022 that found no wrongdoing by the head coach.
– The Administration reported a misleading call to DCF about a “physical” interaction between a student and (a different soccer coach) in 2024, and knew this not to be the case. Despite this exaggerated report, DCF declined to investigate and notified the administration the same day.
No coaches’ handbook exists in Westport Public Schools. Fortunately. we were told, “We are working on it.”
To be clear: there was no suggestion that head coach Russell Oost-Lievense was physical towards a child. He was not.
Additionally, there was also no suggestion that the head coach had any verbal integrations or disagreements was a student athlete in 2024. He is accused of not reporting a verbal disagreement between another coach and a student.
Both coaches at the hearing said the other coach and student “hugged it out” and resolved their disagreement shortly afterwards, and both apologized to the their teammates.
Furthermore, whilst suspended on full-pay the head coach attended an end-of- season banquet not hosted by the school, nor at the school, and not a school event. He received multiple invitations from booster clubs, players and parents.
He has also asked for clarity, and ultimately left a message to the athletic director informing him that he would be attending the banquet.
The athletic director did not respond or communicate with the head coach about this. Furthermore, neither the superintendent, Staples principal or athletic director attended the banquet, despite the total lack of clarity within the Boys Soccer program. Maybe it wasn’t important to them?
I am glad and proud that head coach Russell Oost-Lievense attended the end of season banquet.
No one in my family plays soccer, and I have never met any of the Staples soccer coaches who were non-renewed in late 2024, until Monday. I was impressed by the head coach and the bond he has formed with his team.
Most of them sat there for 14 hours on Monday. It was a real community. I was proud as a father, and as a board member.
Head coach Russell Oost-Lievense (standing, 3rd from left), with players during a break in Monday’s hearing.
I heard his impactful testimony about how he stood up against bullying on the team in 2022. He immediately reported a truly serious matter back in 2022 to our administration, and they seemingly did nothing.
The compassion and vulnerability from the coach was plain for all to see. He is clearly there 24/7 for these kids, in a role that probably pays $7,000 per a year. He is a full-time teacher in Darien public schools, and has been employed for many years with no issues from that district.
I would be proud for any of my children to have been taught and/or coached by him.
I am deeply concerned with the way this administration and Board of Education have treated this coach.
I know they made the argument on Monday that the program was better off without him. I disagree. The sad statement from me as a sitting Board of Education member is actually the coach maybe better off without Westport or Westport Public Schools.
I have never been more proud than to stand separately from the board, and the embarrassment of a case that the administration made and I witnessed on Monday.
Head coach Russell Oost-Lievense should be reinstated. Staples athletic director, VJ Sarullo should do the right thing, and immediately step down.
(“06880” Opinion pages are open to all. Email 06880blog@gmail.com for details.)
