By:Hector Flores
Last week, five former Mepham football coaches filed notices of claim against the Central District for wrongful termination, denial of civil rights and defamation. Filing a notice of claim is a prerequisite to a lawsuit.
The Central District stripped the five men of their coaching rights last November, two months after revelations came to light that three varsity football players repeatedly sexually molested three junior-varsity teammates at a Pennsylvania training camp in August.
A Pennsylvania grand jury report, issued last month, chastised the coaches, but found no evidence to charge them with a crime. The report made clear that the coaches did not know about the attacks while at the camp.
Two weeks after the report, the Central District removed head Coach Kevin McElroy and junior-varsity Coach Art Canestro from their teaching jobs at Mepham and placed them on desk duty at the Brookside School in North Merrick. The two were the only ones among the five coaches to hold full-time teaching posts in the Central District.
The move, ordered by Central District Superintendent Dr. Thomas Caramore, angered both coaches, who now say the district is unfairly persecuting and scapegoating them for the attacks. Thomas Liotti, attorney for all five coaches, said, "What is being done to them is so unfair."
The coaches' notice of claim details allegations against the Central District, as well as possible damages. The claim states that removing the coaches from their teaching positions:
¥Was wrong and negligent.
¥Was a breach of contract.
¥Was unfair.
¥Defamed the coaches.
¥Intentionally inflicted emotional distress on them.
¥Denied them their civil rights.
¥Denied them due process.
In reaction, Caramore said in a prepared statement, "The district will address the issues the coaches raised within the laws and guidelines of New York state. The attempts of the coaches to try the case through the media just compounds the tragedy that has already confronted the victims and the community."
The Central High School District is now conducting its own investigation into the football camp attacks. Officials have offered only a handful of details about that probe.
Robert Kelly, an attorney representing two of the victims, said, "We are disappointed that it took so long, but we are happy that the coaches have been removed."
At least some Mepham students, however, aren't sure taking the coaches out of the classroom was the right thing to do now. The move, they said, will hurt students in McElroy's social-studies class who are trying to prepare for an upcoming Regents exam.
"If they were going to [suspend the teachers], they should have done it in the beginning of the year or next year," said Conor, a 10th-grader who declined to give his last name. "Not now. We have Regents right now."
