CHS BASEBALL COACH INVESTIGATION DELAYED ONCE AGAIN

The investigation into alleged harassment, intimidation, and bullying by Columbia High School baseball coach Joe Fischetti -- which was to have taken no more than one month but has dragged on beyond three months -- is delayed yet again.

District Spokesperson Suzanne Turner said the review by an outside investigator, most recently expected before Memorial Day, will now be delivered no sooner than June 20.

Turner issued this statement to Maplewoodian.com on Thursday:

We expect that a report from Dr. Seitz will be shared with the Board of Education during the executive session on June 20th.  The report itself will not be made public, due to confidentiality requirements. 

At this point, we do not know the contents of the report, so we will have to wait to see if there are any findings which we will be able to share publicly.

Superintendent John Ramos announced last month that the outside investigation into HIB claims against Fischetti would be completed before Memorial Day.

Ramos said then that outside investigator Leroy Seitz had still not completed his review that began in February, more than three months after his hiring.

You may recall that the district hired Seitz, the superintendent of the Parsippany-Troy Hills School District, on Feb. 26 to review its own investigation that had found Fischetti allowed harassment and bullying of at least two former players. 

He was paid $5,000.

Despite that, and a lawsuit filed by one of the former players, the school board on Feb. 22 voted to re-appoint Fischetti as coach this season by a 6-3 vote. Board members Johanna Wright, Chris Sabin and Elizabeth Baker voted against the re-appointment.

At the same meeting, Ramos announced that an outside investigator would be brought in to review the findings. It was later revealed that investigator was Seitz.

Ramos said then it would take two to four weeks. 

But now it appears the report will be at least another two weeks away. The 2016 CHS baseball season recently ended with the team posting a 17-10 record.

The school board's next meeting is set for Monday, June 6.