By John Schwing

WESTPORT — The Board of Education, facing two more appeals of school administrators’ decision not to renew the contracts for Staples High School coaches, has hired a legal firm specializing in employment law for the proceedings.

At a brief meeting convened online Friday morning, the board endorsed a recommendation to hire Daniel Murphy of the Hartford-based law firm Kainen Escalera and McHale for the hearings.

Incident at boys soccer team retreat

Names of the coaches appealing administrators’ decisions not to renew their contracts were not disclosed, but they are likely those who were suspended in the wake of an incident that took place at a retreat by the Staples High School boys soccer team last August. Their contracts subsequently were not renewed.

The appeal hearings, which have not yet been scheduled, can take place in public at the coaches’ request.

Rumors about what happened at the soccer team retreat circulated through the local sports community for weeks until the issue burst into public view when Jonny Costello, a Staples senior and varsity soccer player, addressed the Board of Education in January.

Costello told the board he was the player at the center of an “incident of physical assault by an assistant coach,” but denied that he or his family reported it to school district officials.

In his statement, Costello said he was interviewed about the incident only after Athletic Director VJ Sarullo received an “anonymous” tip. Officials then declined to renew the contracts for three of the team’s assistant coaches.

The 18-year-old said that because of backlash directed toward him and his family — which he blamed on how school officials handled the situation — his life was “destroyed.” He said he has been subjected to “bullying, shunning, isolation. Not only at school, but in the public forum.”

Although the coaches caught up in the incident have not been publicly named, one of them — Harry Ocampo — identified himself in a letter sent to Jan. 18 to the Westport Journal.

Not only did Ocampo “categorically” deny he had been involved in a physical altercation at the soccer team retreat, but added, “I am prepared to cooperate fully with any investigation into this matter. I am willing to provide any evidence or testimony necessary to demonstrate my innocence. I encourage anyone involved in this process to approach the matter with fairness and objectivity.”

He did not respond to a Westport Journal request for comment to confirm whether or not he is one of the coaches appealing non-renewal of his contract.

The employment-appeals process is available to any coach who has held the job in question for four years or more, according to state statutes.

Tennis coach prevails on non-renewal appeal

If one or both of the hearings take place in public, the format would likely mirror the appeals process detailed for the school board prior to the January hearing on the contract for Kris Hrisovulos, a Staples varsity tennis coach.

Hrisovulos, an award-winning coach whose contract also was not renewed for the coming season, chose to have his appeal of that decision heard in public.

At a Jan. 31 hearing in Town Hall, the school board — in effect sitting as a jury on the issue — decided that school administrators had notified Hrisovulos improperly of their decision not to renew his contract.

Although the coach’s appeal was sustained that day on procedural grounds, the larger question about whether he got his job back remained unclear. 

Asked afterward if school administrators would re-start the review process for Hrisovulos according to prescribed steps, Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice would only say, it “would be up to the school administration. We have to consider what happens next.”

With no public announcements on the issue since then, the Westport Journal recently asked Scarice if there had been any developments in Hrisovulos’s job status.

In a brief emailed response, the superintendent said, “the coach returns.” There was no further elaboration on the decision, apparently made administratively.

It also was not immediately clear why school officials, who were represented at the Hrisovulos hearing by a Stamford-based lawyer with Shipman & Goodwin, decided to hire another firm.

The decision to hire Kainen Escalera and McHale for the upcoming hearings was based on a review of three bids for the job, Neil Phillips, the board secretary, said at Friday’s meeting.

John Schwing, interim editor of the Westport Journal, has held senior editorial and writing posts at southwestern Connecticut media outlets for four decades. Learn more about us here.