Shouts And Accusations At Coatesville Area Board Meeting

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CALN — Members of the Coatesville Area School Board continued to bear the brunt of public outrage Tuesday as calls for the removal of the district’s acting superintendent and solicitor dominated a public meeting held over a month after the controversial departure of two former administrators.

At Tuesday night’s regularly scheduled school board committees meeting in the district’s 9/10 Center auditorium, community members again criticized the school board’s handling of the resignations of former Superintendent Richard Como and former Director of Athletics and Activities Jim Donato.

The highlight of the meeting came when Acting Assistant Superintendent Teresa Powell, one of two whistleblowers who uncovered the racist and sexist text messages exchanged on Como and Donato’s district-issued cell phones, took the podium and accused acting Superintendent Angelo Romaniello of exchanging insensitive text messages about her with his predecessor.

According to Powell, the text message transcripts at the center of the district’s ongoing controversy contained exchanges that referenced her by name, and that the now acting superintendent was a key participant in those conversations.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/general-news/20131009/shouts-and-accusations-at-coatesville-area-board-meeting

Votes Of 2 Coatesville Area School District Board Members Remain Unknown After Stormy Meeting

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More than 24 hours after the Coatesville Area School Board voted to accept the retirement of its superintendent and the resignation of its athletic and activities director, the votes of two of its board members are still unknown.

The school board on Tuesday night hastily voted 6-to-1 to accept the retirement of former CASD superintendent Richard Como and resignation of former high school Athletic and Activities Director Jim Donato, after both men were found exchanging racially-charged text messages about students and staff using district-issued phones.

School board members Joe Dunn, James Fox, Bill Sweigart, Paul Johnson, Laurie Knecht, and school board President Neil Campbell voted to approve all items on the agenda. Dr. Tanya Thames Taylor was the lone board member who voted against.

According to Campbell, board member Diane Brownfield and board Vice President Rick Ritter were unable to attend the meeting. He said Brownfield recently broke her leg, while Ritter was away in Seattle on business. He said that both members were conferenced into the three-hour meeting.

Read more: http://www.dailylocal.com/social-affairs/20130926/votes-of-2-casd-board-members-remain-unknown-after-stormy-meeting

Coatsville Area School District In Crisis After Racially-Charged Rext Messages Surface

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The abrupt departure of the Coatesville Area School District superintendent and another senior administrator came two weeks after numerous exchanges of inappropriate and racially-charged text messages were discovered on their district-issued cell phones, and multiple sources have indicated that school board officials were not only aware of the exchanges, but were prepared to allow the pair to remain in their positions until the conduct prompted a criminal investigation, the Daily Local News has learned.

The Coatesville Area School Board is expected to formally vote to approve the resignations of former Superintendent Richard Como and former Director of Athletics and Activities Jim Donato at Tuesday’s public meeting.  Como announced his “retirement” through a letter posted on the district’s website on August 29. Reports of Donato’s resignation surfaced several days later.  Both came unexpectedly during the first week of the school year.

Text messages exchanged from school-issued cell phone numbers between Como and Donato contained repeated use of a commonly known derogatory phrase referring to African American or black individuals.  In one instance, the term was used 14 times in one conversation.

The school district has not commented on the resignations, but two sources with knowledge of the situation said the departures were the direct result of discoveries found on Donato’s cell phone. More disturbingly, the sources said the school board was made aware of the text messages and was prepared to allow Como and Donato to remain in their positions until the transcripts were leaked to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office, prompting a criminal investigation.

Read more: http://www.timesherald.com/social-affairs/20130923/coatsville-area-school-district-in-crisis-after-racially-charged-text-messages-surface

Superintendent, Athletic Director Out In Coatesville

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Coatesville school board officials Tuesday announced that the district’s superintendent and a senior athletic director had resigned – and that they could not comment further because of an ongoing investigation by the Chester County District Attorney’s Office.

In a brief statement, board officials said Richard Como, the superintendent, and Jim Donato, Coatesville Area Senior High School director of athletics and activities, had submitted letters of resignation.  The board is to vote on those letters Sept. 24.

Como initially announced his retirement two weeks ago in a post on the district website.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130911_Superintendent__athletic_director_out_in_Coatesville.html#ViyjYV7yX25EU21A.99

Coatesville Area School District Eying Four-Day Week

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The Coatesville Area School District is taking a unique approach to avoid layoffs and program cuts.  The district is proposing a year-round four-day school week.

Under Coatesville’s plan, high school students would have their day extended forty-five minutes and elementary students would have their day extended eighty minutes.  Making this change would save the Chester County school district $1.7 million a year.

Coatesville Area School District has 11 schools and nearly 7,000 students.