TROUBLED CHS BASEBALL COACH NOT EXPECTED BACK IN 2017

Several recent signs are pointing to troubled Columbia High School baseball coach Joe Fischetti not being re-appointed next spring to coach the team.

First, sources within the district indicate that plans are underway to launch a search for a new varsity baseball coach for 2017, with a job posting expected soon. 

Second, parents of CHS baseball players are being urged via email to oppose the plan to remove Fischetti, who has been under fire for nearly two years for alleged bullying of some players.

An email from the CHS Baseball Boosters has been circulating for the last week urging players and their parents to contact school board members and Superintendent John Ramos to support Fischetti, adding that they have learned he is to be removed as coach.

The letter states, in part:

We have learned that the superintendent may not recommend to the school 

board the reappointment of Coaches Fischetti and Becht for this coming season. 

This is despite a recent investigation that, I understand, has cleared the coaches 

of any HIB violations during the 2015 season, and following a very successful 

2016 season. 

This is also despite the fact that the coaches enjoy support among nearly 

all of the players and, from what we've heard, many of you. 

This is also despite the fact that they continue to enjoy the support of both 

Ms. Aaron and Mr. Busichio. 

Because we have just learned that this issue may be raised at tonight's 

Board of Education meeting, either publicly or privately, I am sharing this 

information with you in case you wish to email either Dr. Ramos and/or 

any of the board of members to express your position with respect to our 

coaches.

Read the entire letter, sent last Monday, HERE.

It's been six months since a former player filed a lengthy lawsuit accusing Fischetti and some of his staff of harassment, intimidation and bullying (HIB). 

Several other parents have also filed complaints, several of which were found to be valid by the district's own investigation.

Since then, the school district has racked up more than $20,000 in legal bills, with more on the way; paid an outside investigator $5,000 to re-investigate the coach -- and has yet to release those findings; and still has not indicated publicly how it plans to handle the team's future.

Ramos was expected to update residents at the last school board meeting last week, but did not.

Fischetti, who was appointed to coach the team again last spring in a split, 6-3, school board vote, was also allowed to coach them this past summer in the High School Development League.

But according to the Boosters letter, there are apparently indications he is not expected to be appointed coach for the 2017 season. Fischetti is also a full-time CHS physical education teacher, a job that appears unaffected by the latest information.

Ramos and Athletic Director Larry Busichio did not respond to requests for comment on the letter or Fischetti's future as coach. CHS Boosters did respond to an email about the letter, but with no comment about their plans other than to apparently confirm the letter's validity.