CASD vote exacerbates rancor, outrage

Initially confused, residents then angered by abrupt end to meeting

By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times

A resident of the Coatesville Area School District yells at the Board of Education during Tuesday night’s standing-room-only meeting on the fate of Superintendent Richard Como and Coatesville Area High School Athletic Director James Donato.

CALN – After three hours of impassioned pleas to the Coatesville Area school board Tuesday night not to accept the resignations of two former administrators linked to racist comments, the board opted to ignore the outpouring with a vote that elicited confusion, disbelief, and shock.

Before the 6-1 vote, Board President Neil Campbell asked his colleagues if anyone wanted to separate any of the items for discussion on its lengthy, 13-page agenda from what would become a collective vote; none did. So the decision to accept the resignations of former Superintendent Richard Como and former Athletic Director James Donato included a host of decisions, ranging from a tax waiver on three parcels in South Coatesville to the appointment of a new business director.

“What just happened? What’s going on?” rippled through the standing-room-only crowd, which included parents, students, community leaders and staff, both present and past. The meeting was held in the 750-seat auditorium of the district’s 9-10 Center, with several hundred from the overflow audience spilling into the hallway and sitting on the floor.

Spectators said they showed up to protest the vile language used in texts recovered from the phones of the two educators. Based on unauthenticated excerpts obtained by The Times, the derogatory and sophomoric messages left few groups unscathed with derisive commentary directed at blacks, women, and Hispanics. One text even included an insulting comment about one staffer’s weight.

Dozens of speakers pleaded with the board to fire Como and Donato rather than allow them to resign. Others, some of whom received the loudest applause, also sought the resignations of the board members and the ouster of James Ellison, the solicitor, decrying their handling of the controversy.

Chester County Commissioner Ryan Costello shook his head as he watched people exit the auditorium. He said he attended the meeting because he wanted to see first-hand how the situation unfolded. “My heart goes out to the citizens of Coatesville, and I hope people can come together and restore some faith,” he said, adding that the former administrators’ remarks should not be viewed as acceptable anywhere.

Safiya Edwards, a district resident, called the outcome “very disappointing.” However, she said an earlier conversation with a board member whom she wouldn’t name had somewhat prepared her for the rejection of public sentiment. “He said he was not elected to represent the will of the people but was elected to do what he thought was best,” she said. “So I guess I’m not surprised by what happened.”

Neither was Elaine E. Clayton, a former district principal and former head of the teachers’ union. “I thought it was the most disgraceful board meeting I’ve ever seen,” she said, citing decades of attending meetings in multiple capacities. She said the board members appeared to “have their minds made up” and lost control of the meeting.

“If you ask people to sign up, you need to stick to the sign-up sheet,” she said. “Some of the people who signed up never got a chance to speak, and other people were discussing items that weren’t on the agenda.”

Clayton, who now lives in Downingtown, said it saddened her that the district, which has excellent students and teachers, generates headlines periodically because of administrative upheaval. “They’re the ones bringing disgrace to the poor school district,” she said. “It’s unfair.”

Nothing short of “a total house-cleaning” will fix the problem, she said, pointing out that there have always been top administrators who retained their jobs after other superintendents were sent packing, a practice that enabled unethical patterns to continue. “We’ve had too much of this in-house stuff,” she said.

Debbie Willett, the single mother of a large multicultural family in the district, said she felt violated by the school board’s actions. “They heard three hours of community input. They heard the people’s voices, and they went against it,” she said.  “It’s just very disheartening.”

Willett said she hoped people would continue to stay involved and she pointed out a bright spot in the meeting. “There was no racism in that room,” she said. “It was a real united effort.”