Posted on 05/06/2004 4:29:33 AM PDT by mware
‘Crybaby’ coach may teach, but not coach
By DAN P. LEE Staff Writer, (609) 272-7209
PLEASANTVILLE - A Pleasantville Middle School boys basketball coach who shamed one of his players by giving him a "crybaby" trophy at the team's awards banquet will retain his teaching position but will be forbidden from ever again coaching in the school district.
Superintendent Edwin Coyle and Board of Education President Jerome Page reached a compromise that will enable the coach, James Guillen, 24, to continue working as a special-education teacher at the school, the two officials said after a meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Guillen nevertheless will face numerous sanctions, including a five-day suspension without pay and the withholding of an upcoming raise. He also will be required to apologize publicly to the boy, and to undergo sensitivity training and mentoring with a veteran teacher.
Page said he expects the full board to authorize the penalties next week.
The Board of Education voted 5-4 to fire Guillen at its meeting Tuesday night. But because the vote was not based on the recommendation of the superintendent, it was invalid and carried no weight.
Under state law, school boards can hire and fire district employees only on superintendents' recommendations. Coyle maintained that firing Guillen would be too extreme a punishment, and instead recommended to the board Tuesday night most of the same penalties that he and Page agreed to Wednesday.
Page said after his meeting with Coyle - which board member James Pressley also attended - that he and the board had considered challenging some of the wording of the state law, but ultimately decided the other sanctions would suffice.
"We feel very satisfied now that he will not be coaching anymore," Page said, referring to the penalty he and Coyle apparently reached Wednesday; on Tuesday night, Coyle recommended a one-year ban.
The boy's father, Terrence Philo, declined to comment on the development, referring all questions to his lawyer, Steven R. Cocchi, of the Linwood-based D'Amato & D'Amato law firm. Cocchi said later in the day that his office was still conducting its investigation into the matter and declined to say whether he plans to file a lawsuit.
According to Philo, Guillen called his son the day before the banquet late last month to make sure he would be there to receive a "special award." At the ceremony, the boy, Terrence Jr., stood by as all his teammates were given certificates and trophies. He received none.
Finally, Guillen called Terrence Jr. forward, presenting him with the "crybaby award," a trophy featuring a golden figurine of an infant and the boy's misspelled name. Guillen explained that Terrence Jr. was receiving the award because "he begged to get in the game, and all he did was whine."
The story has generated tremendous media attention throughout the United States and even in Canada. Television news crews descended on the school board meeting Tuesday night, and nationally syndicated radio talk show host Howard Stern weighed in with his opinion during his show Wednesday.
Coyle on Wednesday reiterated his position that while Guillen's actions were reprehensible, firing him would have been inappropriate.
"I honestly do not believe that it rose to the level of termination," he said. "(Guillen) has a lot to offer the district, he's concerned about kids, and he made a mistake as a young person. I don't think that it should be a fatal mistake. I think he learned from this."
As part of his punishment, Guillen will be required to host another awards banquet, to which all the players on his basketball team as well as the team's cheerleaders will be invited. At the ceremony, Guillen must apologize to Terrence Jr. and present him with the same certificate and trophy his teammates received.
Coyle said everyone who attended the previous banquet will be "re-invited because they were all part of that evening and some of them may have thought that this was a fun thing at this young man's expense.
"But we didn't think that at all," he said. "So an apology should be to all those who were there."
Coyle said he planned to meet with Guillen and his union representatives today to discuss the situation and the sanctions.
Guillen, who has worked as a teacher at the middle school for three years and led the boys basketball team to a league championship this year - his first year as coach - has not yet publicly discussed the matter. But Coyle said Guillen has told him he regrets giving the boy the award and did so only in an attempt to motivate him.
To e-mail Dan P. Lee at The Press:
This one may hurt but not as much as the lawsuit that will be coming against the school district.
Under state law, school boards can hire and fire district employees only on superintendents' recommendations. Coyle maintained that firing Guillen would be too extreme a punishment, and instead recommended to the board Tuesday night most of the same penalties that he and Page agreed to Wednesday.
Next time teachers' unions do their own "crybaby" act when it comes to pay, layoffs, or class size, remember that it is their largesse and leverage that prevents crappy teachers like Guillen from getting the firing they so richly deserve.
Pleasantville it is not.
There schools are on the verge of being taken over by the state due to the testing scores.
I guess the 'coach' should have given an award for the 'Most Ambitious Non-playing Team Member' for the kid's agressiveness for always wanting to play.
After all, his 'self-esteem' may have been kept intact by the clever selection of choice words that we've all seen to describe unpalatable realities.
When I was a kid playing Little League, my coach would rip me a new one if I messed up on the field. Sure, it hurt my little "feelings", but it made me work harder. Toughened me up, too.
Oh, and before anyone might curse my coach as cruel and insensitive, let me add that the coach was my Dad, God bless him.
For crying out loud! You would treat a 16 year old like a fragile porcelain tea cup and a 24 year old like a demon of misery who escaped from the 7th level of hell?
What PC, CYA idiot thought THIS idea??
We can't have anyone being DIFFERENT, can we?!
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