SPECIAL REPORT: CHS COACHING CONUNDRUM

For the past few months, a flurry of complaints, accusations and questions about several coaching elements at Columbia High School have raised the interest and concerns of parents, students and some administrators.

The issue heated up again this past Monday at the Board of Education meeting where parents and students spoke out about the behavior and the status of coaches of the varsity baseball team, varsity softball team and the freshman boys lacrosse team.

The fallout, which dates back months, has reached a point where an internal investigation is underway related to claims that baseball coach Joseph Fischetti acted improperly and unfairly toward some players. 

Meanwhile, the school board delayed approving the hiring of a new freshman lacrosse coach on Monday pending further information on the departure of the former lacrosse coach.

“If that was approving a replacement for a person we heard was wrongly fired, I don’t know enough information to approve,” Board Member Beth Daugherty said at the meeting. “Not knowing any details, this is something we want to discuss.”

Numerous parents and former and current players have been demanding action for months on the issues relating to Fischetti, who was re-appointed varsity baseball coach despite objections in February, and former softball coach Louis Cicenia and former freshman lacrosse coach Nate Hill, both of whom were denied re-appointment to their posts for the spring 2015 season.

Fischetti came under fire at the February 23 school board meeting where his re-appointment was approved. Prior to the appointment, several residents and players spoke out against his coaching, claiming they had been wrongly treated and made to feel intimidated. Others claimed bullying of players by coaches and other players.

Senior Malcolm Stern said then he was berated and called "a pussy" by one of the coaches. "I really wish you guys would look into investigating," Stern told the board that night. "It's not fun playing baseball here."

Later in the evening, Fischetti addressed the board, stating, "In 16 years in this community I've never been accused of any of the things that were said about me tonight by some people. If there was a history of some of the things I have been accused of I would think they would have showed up before tonight."

Soon after, a former player, Mark Donatelli, emailed Maplewoodian.com with his letter of support.

Donatelli wrote, in part:

I have had the pleasure of knowing Coach Fischetti since my time in Kindergarten at Tuscan School and I can say assuredly that he has a great passion for teaching, especially out on the diamond. Along with coach Maietta and Coach Becht, the current Columbia Baseball coaching staff consists of some of the most dedicated and avid lovers of baseball our school has seen. These men live for baseball and think about the sport year round, but most importantly they live to coach; they live to take a freshman and in four years make him into a principled young man. 

But the complaints continued and included several letters to the district demanding action. When Maplewoodian.com sought copies of the letters several weeks ago, we were told they were not public record because they were part of an ongoing investigation by School District In-House Counsel Phil Stern.

More complaints against Fischetti arose this week during the school board meeting, where several parents complained that Fischetti was making life difficult for their youngsters.

One parent spoke Monday night about a player who had quit the team because he told the parent, “This experience has made me hate baseball.”

Another said, “My son is a target of retribution and retaliation,” adding the team creates an atmosphere of a “bully nature.” 

Asked to comment this week, Fischeti declined noting it was not a good time given all of the scrutiny, but did say in a voice mail: “I won’t be able to make any public comments now. I don’t want to get the boys, meaning my players, involved in any of this, they are having a dream season.”

Dream season is right. The varsity baseball squad is posting a great 15-1 record and currently ranked in the top 25 regularly.  

Meanwhile, for the freshman boys lacrosse team and the varsity softball team, the situation is reversed. Coaches for both of those teams, who had been coaching for several years in the past, were denied their jobs for this spring.

Supporters of Cicenia spoke out several months ago at a board meeting where his replacement, Chris Smith, was appointed to the job. Several people said that Cicenia had done a great job and they did not know why he was removed.

Asked for a reason, District Spokeswoman Suzanne Turner told Maplewoodian.com via email: "As you know, we cannot comment on personnel matters, such as the reasons why any individual staff member may or may not have been appointed to a particular position."

Athletic Director Larry Busichio also declined to comment.

Several residents spoke out in favor of Cicenia at that meeting and again on Monday.

Among them was a father who praised the coach's work with his daughter: "She has grown and wanted to practice and pretty much changed her life."

Tasha Williams, another resident, presented letters from several past players to the school board Monday. She read one that said of Cicenia: “He was the best coach I ever met in all my years of playing softball. He made the softball team like my second home.”

Another added, “We had our ups and downs, but he helped me become a better person.”

Then there is freshman lacrosse coach Nate Hill, who was not re-appointed to the post he had held for several years.

Sarah Maloney, a parent of a lacrosse player, addressed the board Monday.

“There’s several issues going on. There needs to be some level of fairness. If there are rules and procedures they should be followed by every person. People should be held accountable for their actions,” she said. “We were surprised to hear as the season was starting that our coach was let go, for no reason and no one communicated at all. He has been working with the kids for months.”

She and others cited an alleged argument between Hill and a player, but the district and school have not revealed any further information. Requests for an explanation from Superintendent James Memoli, Busichio and Board President Wayne Eastman have so far produced no further details.

“There was no investigation, no discussion about it and someone lost their job,” Maloney added.

Another parent called Hill “a role model for these young boys.”

“When I think about the fact that he will no longer be there and I can almost predict the number of African-Americans who play lacrosse will decline,” the parent said of Hill, who is African-American.

A third parent added, “Every single young man that I’ve talked to who has come in contact with Coach Hill has nothing but great things to say.”

With an internal investigation into one of these situations and the school board holding up appointing a replacement in another, it would seem that the issue of how coaches are chosen and how they are treating students needs continued study, and a more open approach so that facts are given to parents and students who will rely on these coaches.