Editor’s note: The following opinion column was submitted for publication by Board of Education member Robert Harrington.
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The controversy over the unjustified firing of Staples Head Soccer Coach, Russell Oost-Lievense is not going to die down. That is the hope and strategy of Supt. Scarice, school administration and the other members of the Board of Education: Stay quiet and weather out the storm until the Summer. This strategy is going to fail miserably.
Last week was not a good one for Westport public schools — and Staples High School in particular.
On Monday: The 14-hour non-renewal hearing was a terrible look for the superintendent, Staples principal and athletic director who could only recall very few details. They didn’t think it was important to call a single witness that was at actually present at the 2024 “incident.” The aforementioned three “witnesses” / spokesmen for the district were certainly not there.
On Tuesday: We started hearing from numerous current Staples coaches that are frustrated with the administration and questioning what has happened — and asking if it could happen to them too?
I received a letter from the administration’s attorney — directed at me and it was a clear warning about my actions — including a risk that I might be prosecuted … This legal interference toward an elected representative is outrageous and wrong. It needs to stop immediately.
On Thursday: At the Board of Education meeting the administration appeared 100 percent tone deaf and didn’t even refer to Monday’s hearing, even after other board members and parents raised the issue. Not a peep from them.
On Friday: We saw several hundred Staples students leave their classes and stage a “Walkout for Russ.” Their devastating chants of, “I don’t Recall,” “I don’t Recall,” were clearly aimed at superintendent, Staples principal and athletics director. I give credit to Staples principal for showing up and listening to his students. Students were using their voices to clearly state that, “VJ Sarullo must go!” The athletics director and superintendent didn’t show up.
On Saturday: A student-initiated petition is to “Reinstate Coach Russ” was closing in on 1,000 signatures in just a few days since its launch.
Yesterday: I received a letter from the administration’s attorney — directed at me and it was a clear warning about my actions — including a risk that I might be prosecuted. The letter was marked “Attorney-Client Privilege,” so I can’t go into specific details here. I will have more to say on this letter shortly. I truly hope the Board of Ed will agree to making this letter public.
This legal interference toward an elected representative is outrageous and wrong. It needs to stop immediately.
As a sitting Board of Education member I am shocked and disappointed by the actions of the school administration.
I would be interested to know if the other Board of Education members are going to come forward and justify the thoroughness of the investigation that Athletics Director VJ Sarullo completed? Will they defend the investigation?
Can they explain why the athletics director submitted a false and misleading call/report into the department?
Why do we not have a coaches handbook or formal training about mandate reporting in our district?
Does the Board of Education think Westport is better off without Coach Russell Oost-Lievense?
I repeat that fired head coach was not involved in any physical or verbal confrontation or interaction with any student. No other soccer coach was involved in any physical situation with any student.
Russell Oost-Lievense … This brilliant teacher and coach has had his reputation utterly trashed by our school administration and athletics director.
I continue to be be concerned by the lack of evidence presented and transparency in last week’s hearing from your school district:
The administration objected to eight witnesses, including the former athletics director (who was trashed by the superintendent during the hearing, with zero right to respond). They also did not permit the assistant superintendent for human resources and coaches in other sports programs at Staples to testify, who could provide insight into training and policies.
The administration prevented us (and you) from seeing dozens of emails. We will never know what is in them.
No one that was a witness to either the 2022 or 2024 “incidents” was called as a witness by our administration.
Students who were direct witnesses in 2024 came forward to be interviewed by our administration. This was rejected.
The administration admitted that a 2022 coach evaluation was not produced — or they don’t have it. (The notice of non-renewal from our administration did not explicitly refer to an incident in 2022. However, it formed a large part of the administration’s oral testimony.)
The administration would not or did not make available a report into their own independent investigation of the 2022 situation for the hearing. It never presented the report to the coach back in 2022.
The administration would not or did not make available the Department of Children and Family Services report from 2022 that found no wrongdoing by the head coach.
The Staples soccer team has been left without any real direction or leadership. The last time Staples athletics director emailed students and parents was at the end of January — almost five months ago. There has been no meeting with parents or the players since.
The administration reported a misleading call to DCF about a “physical” interaction between a student and (a different soccer coach) in 2024, and knew this not to be the case at the time. Despite this exaggerated report, DCF declined to investigate and notified the administration the same day.
No coaches handbook exists in Westport public schools. Fortunately. we were told, “We are working on it.”
The Staples soccer team has been left without any real direction or leadership. The last time Staples athletics director emailed students and parents was at the end of January — almost five months ago. There has been no meeting with parents or the players since. That doesn’t seem to line up with what we heard from our administration and AD at the hearing, when they said, “Communicate, Communicate, Communicate,” and “I’m available 24/7.”
To conclude: Last week was a very tough week for Westport and the school district. However, it’s likely been hardest of all for long-time special education teacher from Darien school district and fired Staples head soccer coach — Russell Oost-Lievense. This brilliant teacher and coach has had his reputation utterly trashed by our school administration and athletics director.
This lone board member wants to be very clear: Westport is not better off without Coach Russ.
The athletics director needs to do the honorable thing here and give back his Staples shirt — or the superintendent needs to fire him.
Robert Harrington has been a member of the Board of Education since 2021.
It is shameful to hear that the district’s attorney may be intimidating you or anyone else. It is difficult to understand what is falling off the rails at this school district, given privacy rights and the administration’s general bias toward secrecy. Still, I want to know at whose direction was the letter sent? On what grounds would anyone, or any member of the BOE, be “prosecuted?”
This whole situation is out of control.
This situation while echoing the handling of most situations in this town for the last 3 years is OUTRAGEOUS.
It is time to say ENOUGH.
THE HAMLET
PARKER HARDING
JESUP GREEN
LONG LOTS
COMMUNITY GARDENS
THE $7m SHED.
BARRONS AFFORDABLE HOUSING
GLENDINNING SKULDUGGERY rewriting of law. To get around the law just like hamlet !
All outrageous !
If I missed some I’m sorry !
WTF IS HAPPENING TO OUR TOWN?
This has to stop and now !
Who is the board of ed attorney, who dares to say an elected member of the board cannot say whatever he pleases?
That’s DEMOCRACY
BUT the bullying begins..
Time for the rtm to be petitioned on this matter.
If they can be petitioned it seems for everything and a dog then they can be petitioned to hear and hopefully overturn this.
Hurry though I believe you had a time limit to do so.. around 10 days.
Thank you to everyone who continues to speak up and say what should be obvious: we are not better off without Coach Russ.
It’s disappointing to see the Board of Education continuing to hope this controversy will quietly fade. But it won’t—and it shouldn’t. We owe it to Coach Russ and to the values of our community to keep this issue front and center.
I urge everyone to continue applying pressure—contact the Board of Education, the First Selectwoman, and the RTM. Let them know that silence is not acceptable, and inaction is a choice. Coach Russ’s service and deep commitment to this town as a lifelong resident should be celebrated, not cast aside.