| clintl |
05-25-2005 08:46 PM |
More details from the Sacramento Bee today (you have to register to actually read them on the Bee site):
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/s...13798463c.html
Quote:
Trustee to review coach's firing
Rally protests move amid rumblings of a recall election.
By Molly Dugan -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Supporters of Center High School head football coach Digol J'Beily on Tuesday persuaded the school district in Antelope to hold a special meeting to reconsider last week's decision to oust him from the job.
Trustee Libby Williams, who had supported the coach a week earlier but hadn't committed to a new meeting, changed her mind Tuesday after meeting with students and parents following a rally of 400 students and parents in an Antelope park.
She joined two other trustees - Nancy Anderson and Raymond Bender, the coach's father-in-law - in calling for the meeting. It will be held at 6 p.m. June 3 at Center High.
Williams said Center High School's continuing agitation prompted her to rethink her position. Since the board's vote May 25, students have demonstrated twice, 30 coaches and student activity advisers have quit their extracurricular posts and a recall is being planned for the remaining two trustees - Scott Rodowick and Teri Ferguson. Both voted to dismiss J'Beily, and neither explained their action.
But their colleagues said Rodowick was acting on a personal vendetta about his son's backup quarterback role three years ago when J'Beily was an assistant coach.
"I was hoping this situation would resolve itself. I don't think it's going to happen now," Williams said Tuesday afternoon. "I'm not sure what will come out of this meeting. It's just an opportunity to listen to the parents and students."
Williams' decision came after a small group of students and parents drove to her home after the rally.
Earlier, hundreds showed support for the coach, holding signs that said "Stop the Abuse of Power," "No J'Beily, No Sports" and "Rodowick, You're Hurting Kids." It was held in the early afternoon following a scheduled early dismissal from school.
"There was no reason to terminate Mr. J'Beily," said Rich Foley, parent of a football player. "I am very concerned about the way this took place."
J'Beily arrived at the rally flanked by the football team and was greeted with ear-splitting cheers. He told the crowd he just wants to get back to coaching.
Looking around the audience, J'Beily said, "I have hundreds of sons and daughters here. I would like to thank the community for their support, especially our students."
Trustee Anderson had pushed for another meeting on the issue because of the unrest. "The district is in absolute turmoil," she said Tuesday. "We need to do something as soon as possible."
J'Beily had needed three votes to keep his job. But because Bender is his father-in-law, the trustee abstained from voting, and the vote was 2-2.
Public school board members are prohibited by law from voting on any matter that uniquely affects a relative. For example, trustees can vote on a collective bargaining agreement that impacts a group of people, even if that includes a relative, but cannot vote on an item that involves only the relative and no one else.
The board's action so incensed staff and volunteers that most of them resigned from their coaching and student activity posts.
If the coach is not reinstated, "the programs will be shut down," said Bender.
"There's no way we're going to fill some 30 positions with qualified people."
J'Beily, 36, is also a history teacher at the school and was an assistant football coach for several years before becoming head coach in 2004.
Rodowick's displeasure over his son's role on the football team was reported in the high school newspaper in February 2003 after a school board meeting that was taped.
According to the story, Rodowick said: "This year my son was retaliated against on the football team. My son was not afforded the ability to play as often as he should have ... ."
Others in the story disputed Rodowick's statements, calling them opinion, not fact.
At Tuesday's rally at Lone Oak Park, the coach's supporters advocated the recall of Rodowick and Ferguson. Leaders said they are ready to serve the two trustees with a formal notice of intent.
Carey Winborne, an assistant football coach who was among those who resigned his coaching job, said he thinks the protests will succeed. "(Rodowick) has overstepped his boundaries," he said.
Proponents must take several steps in order to finish their petition to recall the trustees.
If their petition is ultimately accepted by the Sacramento County registrar of voters, they can begin to collect signatures.
Based on the current number of registered voters in the Center Unified School District, proponents will need to collect 2,400 signatures within 120 days to make it to the ballot, said Brad Buyse, campaign services manager for the registrar of voters.
Some of the coaches and advisers, many of whom are also teachers at the high school, said they fear retaliation for their support of J'Beily.
Many wore T-shirts that read "Who's Next?"
"It's not just about Coach J'Beily," said Jeremy Hunt, the school's college and career coordinator. "This is the straw that broke the camel's back as far as Mr. Rodowick is concerned."
District officials said they have no contingency plans should the coaches and student activity advisers decide not to return to their extracurricular posts.
At the rally, several coaches and advisers said they will stand behind J'Beily and not back down. "We didn't pick this fight," said Bob Easton, who resigned from his position as athletic director.
"All we wanted to do was go about the business of coaching kids."
Students said J'Beily was more than a teacher and coach - he took kids out for meals, helped them with homework and invited them to his home.
Every Friday afternoon, J'Beily would become "Doctor J" and talk to students in small groups about their problems, from girlfriend-boyfriend trouble to serious issues at home.
Even students who weren't on the football team or in any of J'Beily classes came to the sessions.
"He was someone you could really talk to when you had a problem," said Mark Petersen, a senior who was on the football team. "He's our friend."
On football game days, he required the players to wear ties and no hats or sneakers to school, and sit in the front of their classes.
J'Beily, the players said, ranked grades first, community service second, football third and girlfriends fourth.
"It's not just a team," said player Stephen Lamb, "it's a family."
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http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports...13798491c.html
Quote:
Ailene Voisin: It's power to the people of Center High School
By Ailene Voisin -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, May 25, 2005
No one booed. No one threw beer. None of the significant players limped off the field clutching a tender hamstring or torn knee tendon. In fact, all of those who transformed Lone Oak into a sort of People's Park on Tuesday - and 400 would be a rough estimate - cheered passionately for the same side.
Digol J'Beily is a history teacher.
And a football coach.
And he matters.
Civics lessons are seldom this pertinent. What began last Wednesday with the abrupt, highly questionable ouster of Center High School's popular first-year head coach - per a vote of two school board members, one of whom has been accused of harboring a petty personal vendetta against the coach - has evolved into an animated, ongoing discussion of the democratic process. Attorneys are involved. Administrators are speaking out. Emotions are so charged, J'Beily so well-
respected as an educator and coach, that one of Sacramento's most diverse neighborhoods has melted into one swelling pot of solidarity.
"I have been using this as a lesson in my history classes the last couple days," the soft-spoken J'Beily said. "We actually went back to the Constitution era, the Founding Fathers, the checks and balances and all that. One of the questions I keep hearing is, 'If the board is in charge, who polices them?' I just try to explain that they (board members) are elected officials, and if they don't do what the voters ask, then the people are the police."
In this instance, more like foot soldiers. At the early-afternoon rally held within walking distance of the Antelope school, members of the Cougars football team, clad in their yellow and blue jerseys, arrived en masse. Many of the Center teachers who resigned their extracurricular duties in protest of the board's decision wore T-shirts that read, "Who's Next?" Students hooted and hollered and held signs urging the 18-and-older crowd to pursue the recall of board members Scott Rodowick and Teri Ferguson. Others cried out "We love J'Beily" as the teacher/coach grinned sheepishly and thanked the gathering of friends and relatives.
Indeed, this was both collaborative effort and family affair. The J'Beilys were everywhere. Digol's six siblings were in attendance, as were numerous nieces and nephews. His mother, Shmouneh - a red, white and blue scarf hanging loosely around her neck - stood off to the side, smiling and nodding, at times appearing a bit overwhelmed. A native of Lebanon who speaks little English, she turned to her sons and daughters to convey thoughts about Digol.
They described the former Cougars star quarterback as reserved and committed, a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan and the best athlete of the bunch. "He wasn't like the rest of us - short and fat," said Elias, laughing. In a more serious moment, the oldest of the siblings mentioned the family's appreciation for a level of support that gains momentum by the day. The situation remains fluid, the circumstances seemingly changing by the hour.
After the crowd at the park dispersed, a handful of supporters drove to the nearby home of Libby Williams, one of the two board members who voted to retain J'Beily. With parent John Olesen relentlessly, if politely, pressing his case, Williams, listening patiently as she stood in her front yard, agreed to contact the superintendent and provide the third (and necessary) vote for a special meeting that was subsequently scheduled for June 3.
There was additional arm-twisting throughout the day, some private, some public. In a somewhat remarkable development, former Cougars quarterback Monib Ahbat, unable to attend the rally because of a job interview, contacted The Bee and asked to elaborate on what many believe to be the root of the controversy: Rodowick's resentment toward J'Beily for naming Ahbat the starting quarterback in 2003 ahead of his stepson, Nick Rodriguez. (Neither Rodriguez nor Rodowick returned phone calls.)
"I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think so highly of Mr. J'Beily," said Ahbat, a Sierra College sophomore. "I can't even begin to describe what a great person and teacher he is. I hated history until I took his class. But he really relates to his students and makes it interesting.
"That's why I think this is all pretty stupid. Nick has been one of my best friends for years. He doesn't agree at all with his stepfather. And to say that I didn't deserve to start really makes me upset. I was all-league my senior year. I was the team MVP. All of my awards speak for themselves. Now I feel sort of responsible for everything that is happening."
Ahbat's own story is compelling. His parents are immigrants from Kabul, Afghanistan, who discouraged him from playing sports. They never attended his games. They never understood.
"They thought it was a waste of time," he says, with a sigh. "They thought I should be studying. Now to go through this ... "
Ahbat nonetheless plans to attend the upcoming meeting. He intends to contact his former coach within the next few days, to reiterate his support, to endorse a recall. And like everyone else close to the situation, he need remember only two words: Gray Davis.
The history lesson continues.
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KCRA 3's Edie Lambert Reports