Racism, sexism apparently coexisted with nepotism, favoritism
By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times
The now-infamous cell phone – which allegedly spewed vile sexist and racist text messages – may have set the tone for the administration of disgraced former Coatesville Superintendent Richard W. Como: When it rang, those within earshot heard the theme from “The Godfather.”
Interviews with past and former employees suggest that Como ran his regime as a don might have, surrounding himself with fierce loyalists, many of whom were beholden to him for past favors, if not their jobs.
In Como’s world, associates said, favoritism and football reigned supreme. How else to explain the fact that Athletic Director James Donato, who exchanged the offensive messages with Como and has also exited the district, enjoyed not only a smart phone, but also an iPad and a subscription to Sports Illustrated at taxpayers’ expense, according to district records.
And when Donato went missing at the beginning of the school year without explanation, school officials played dumb when asked where he was, brushing off his failure to appear. One even strenuously disputed the suggestion that his absence would produce any negative repercussions. If that’s the case, here’s an easy way to save the district some money: Don’t replace him.
Como’s propensity for buying loyalty may also shed light on the fact that his son, Matthew Como, 36, was hired as night maintenance supervisor in April 2009 at a salary of $50,000. School district officials said Como had nothing to do with either his son’s selection or his supervision, but exasperated Coatesville taxpayers aren’t buying it, and they shouldn’t. After all, whoever was responsible for the son answered to the father.
To be fair, no rule prohibited officials from putting Matt Como on the payroll. The district’s toothless policy warns that “nepotism and cronyism, or the appearance thereof, can degrade staff morale, can arouse public distrust, and is an obstacle to teamwork, effectiveness and quality performance,” but it doesn’t ban it. And in a tight-knit community like Coatesville, it’s going to be difficult to avoid having any relatives who share the district as an employer. But that kinship should never apply to the person at the top of the food chain. So even if Matt Como presented stellar qualifications – which is far from the case – his addition to the staff represented a colossal example of bad judgment.
It’s difficult to know when Matt Como, a 1996 CASH graduate, began his brushes with the law because one infraction occurred out of state. However, county court records date back to June 22, 1999, when West Brandywine Police received a call from the manager of the Downingtown National Bank that a forged $80 check had been made out and paid to Matt Como. When confronted, Matt Como admitted stealing checks sometime earlier; he said he cashed them because “he owed money to some people,” according to the criminal complaint.
In a separate but related case a short time later, Downingtown Borough Police responded to the bank because two more checks from the same account had been forged, one for $50 and one for $75, a second criminal complaint said. Court records said Como went to East Brandywine Police with his father and promised to turn himself in, but didn’t. Records show that he averted being declared a fugitive because his father hired an attorney, who subsequently arranged his surrender.
On Feb. 7, 2000, Matt Como entered a guilty plea to misdemeanor theft in each case and received a year’s probation for both; he was ordered to pay a $125 fine, $205 in restitution, and court costs, records said. But he did not make it through his probationary period without being violated, court records said.
On Jan. 12, 2001, Matt Como’s probation officer reported that in addition to failing to appear for five required check-ins, Matt Como used illegal drugs on seven dates between March 3, 2000, to Jan. 10, 2001, an apparent continuation of a problem that resulted in a previous arrest for drug possession in North Carolina, records said.
Court officials point out that the presence of drugs in a defendant’s system is insufficient as a matter of law to support a drug possession charge. Records show that Matt Como’s probation was reinstated for the violations, and he may very well have lived a blemish-free life ever since. One could argue – and some have – that everyone deserves a second chance; of course, in Matt Como’s case, a third or fourth is more appropo. But Matt Como’s criminal past is not the reason he shouldn’t have been hired: It simply exacerbates it.
It’s this kind of shenanigan – an inexcusable appearance of impropriety – that has residents understandably doing a slow boil. At Tuesday night’s school board meeting, Matt Como’s employment was one of myriad topics that generated a slew of questions – and a few lame responses from the board. District records show that Matt Como’s 2012 salary was $83,200 a year, compensation that is augmented by an average monthly mileage reimbursement of $300, according to district records. With travel expenses like that, one wonders if he ever has time to get out of his vehicle.
Hate-filled texts may have initiated the outrage, but they have called attention to a climate of privilege in a disadvantaged district that fuels the rancor and begs numerous questions. While some teachers were forced to buy some of their own school supplies, how many perks were lavished on certain coaches?
Livid residents such as Stephen Bové vowed to continue their quest for accountability. “We’re going to organize this love-in every two weeks,” he told the board, referring to the crowd of about 200. Bové said he would feel better about the board’s actions if any of its members would admit that something went terribly wrong during their tenure.
So far, there’s no indication that anything short of an overhaul through the ballot box will produce any semblance of reform. In one of the most glaring examples of the disconnect between the board and the public, Board Member Laurie Knecht defended the board’s decision to let Richard Como retire. She told WCHE’s Bill Mason earlier this week that it was not necessary to terminate Como because “he had suffered enough” by losing the bulk of his contract and being subjected to public shame.
It’s hard to imagine how she could be more out of touch with her constituency.
Why don’t everyone that is on matts team stop acting stupid the only reason no one said anything about what was going on in the district was because they were scared of being fired because most of the people that really knew what was going on we’re people that worked there and everyone knows that king Richard was known for chopping off anyone head that spoke up and no one in charge had the nerve to help and when you were without a job no one cared as long as they kept theirs
If this stuff is true about Matt then he should not be working there and if any people work there with a criminal record then the HR department should be asked some questions Oh i forgot she should not have her job either she was placed there by Como to do as Como said isn’t it true before any one can work for the school the state requires a background check oh I forgot coatesville does not play by the states rules we see that with the way he retired and got what he wanted and by the way since da truth is telling the truth I got something else to say did any one notice hoh tithe board just gave us a lame answer about how Denato tuition was paid for some class he took before he resigned well the point that I want to make is how come he can go and take classes and the school pay for it and not teachers and if teachers still had that privelage if tuition reimbursement they would have to stay at their job for a period of time or they would have to pay the school back but Dinato is gone and the school is still paying for his classes
You made my point better then I did. Thugs article could have been written answering the questions you raised. How did he get hired in the first place? That’s what people want to know. Why did everyone let Comp and Donato do whatever they wanted? Instead it brings up an issue that’s 4 yrs old.
This article is so full of misinformation!!! Hope Como gets a lawyer soon!!! On top of it it’s people like Turk182 who obviously can’t read that make it even worse. No where does it say drug arrests you moron! Reading comprehension like that is why coatesville can’t make it’s test scores. It’s unbelievable how you would go after a guy who had nothing to do with this!
I may be a moron but it says: “resulted in a previous arrest for drug possession in North Carolina.”
It also notes multiple failures of drug tests while on probation.
So…anymore lectures or am I keeping you from the Matt Como pity party?
When people, mostly real-estate agencies, compare our public schools in our “Main Line” area they are comparing alloys of gold and platinum. While the majority of public schools in the midsection of our country are base metal.
What many forget is that Como Sr. was hiring convicted criminals about five years ago and allowing them to work at the Gordon Education Center. If you remember, he hired well known drug dealer Victor Ford when he got out of a decade stint in State Prison and Ford in turn was convicted two years ago of sexual assault of a teenager. Only Como could allow felonies to work in school.
Not qualified to make my big mac…should never had gotten the job. How many qualified people got overlooked so he could work for daddy? How many crackhead friends did he then hire?….wrong just wrong
Mike — stand firm against the old guard
Without debate, without criticism…no country can succeed—and no republic can survive… And that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment—the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution—not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply “give the public what it wants”—but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion….And so it is to the printing press—to the recorder of man’s deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news—that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent. (JFK. Waldorf-Astoria Hotel New York City Speech before the American Newspaper Publishers Association. April 27, 1961.)
Well if we’re holding eveyone to the light of day, lets next ask Mr. Hawa how many relatives and/or significant others dating family members were hired into the district and directly under his supervision in the Technology Department.
Maybe Abe can answer that since we know he used to work in that office.
Did Matt Como pee in your Cheerios this morning? Maybe he stole your lunch money as a kid? Personal attacks on someone who was not apart of this is totally uncalled for. You slam the DLN for their unprofessional reporting, and now your following their footsteps.
Again, you miss that Como’s criminal record — which these comments continue to highlight — are a confirmed on the record fact. So, basically, we’re wrong for pointing out that Superintendent hired his own son — which would be shaky under the best of circumstances — one with a checked past and paid him a lot of money. Interesting take.
Again, your using your website to bring down an innocent man in this scandal to raise website hits. Your like a bully in school picking on the easy target to get a rise out of the rest class. Like a previous comment, where was the concern when he was hired years ago? This was not a secret hiring that took place, it was approved by the school board. If you are so concerned about the well being of the CASD, why were you not the the school board meetings when he was hired or approved for a raise? This was not an article to report on the wrong doings of the CASD, it’s meant to make your website money, while at the same time bring down a man who is only trying to do a job he was hired by the school board to do.
PS. By no means do I feel Matt should have been hired for this job, but he was. So leave him out of his fathers mess and let him do the job he was hired to do.
So…you’re saying these guys are mean for pointing out that someone with multiple drug arrests was hired to be around kids by his dad and got paid a really high salary.
Yes, of course, Matt Como is clearly the victim here.
You are missing the point. They outed an innocent person. If this was such of a concern why wasn’t it reported in April 2009??? Truth is, it wasn’t a concern. They are just using this information now as part of the developing story. So anyone with an internet connection knows personal information about him.
And I’ll tell ya something…someone at Benner overhead the “Coaches” telling Eugenia Roberts that they didn’t feel Como did anything wrong. Hopefully those views are part of a dying culture.
I graduated in 1973. The CASD was on the cutting edge in education at the time: independent study programs, a newspaper awarded for excellence by Columbia University, a Music Department that was the envy of the state, TV studio, TV’s and telephones in each classroom, and we even had a computer program class albeit in an infant stage. We also had coaches who taught, took pride in their teaching, and who knew that athletic programs support the academic program and not vice-a-versa. We also had an AD named Max Stuber who never let them forget it.
We need to bring back that culture of academic excellence.
Oh, and by the way, even with all those academic accolades, we still had a great athletic program.
While I agree that Como and Donato should get what’s coming to them, I don’t think it’s fair to go after Matt Como. He obviously had a problem that he is dealing with, and while you or I may not think it’s fair that he was hired for a position, it’s certainly not Matt’s fault. I find it interesting that the Coatesville Times was so quickly to make comments about the Daily Local News reporting information before it was confirmed. Taking the moral high road. However you are ok publishing a Personal Attack against someone who was not involved with the texting, can not influence school board policy, or demand a salary…. Very disappointed you choose to go down this route, you could have easily made your point without disclosing his personal information.
A little bit of a false equivalency here, I think. Matt Como’s criminal records aren’t unconfirmed, but rather a matter of public record and aren’t disputed — and are germane in the hiring of anyone on the public payroll.
And under the circumstances it is more than fair to ask whether it was an appropriate action by his father to hire him for a school district job — and lets be honest, no one was going to be hired without Richard Como’s tacit approval, regardless of the public denials of it. It was made abundantly clear that the elder Como personally hired staff — including the new basketball coach — it would be utterly disingenuous to suggest that the elder Como had no role in hiring his own son.
Frankly, it’s a little hard to see our report that the Superintendent of Schools effectively hired his own son — one with a history many would find concerning — as a personal attack. You may not like the facts, but they are the facts and relevant to the points that were being made in the column.
Where did I imply his Criminal Record was unconfirmed or he didn’t get hired because of who he was? You are smart enough to know the tone of this article is written to disparage Rich Como, at the expense of his son. He is, and should be, an easy target by his own misdoings. I just felt you were above this type of Journalism. Oh and by the way, if his son was a such a concern, “one with a history many would find concerning”, why wait until now for this story? If you were truly concerned you would have reported this years ago. Seriously, why now?
Did you do a background check on all school board members and associates? I hear Ellison has an interesting past, could make for a good article. But since he is a lawyer I doubt we will see anything.
I wonder how a “Merit Pay” system would have worked under the Como Regime?
This entire situation is just a travesty. Como hires his son and give him a outrageous salary. Then the football team transforms into a Division 1-AA program with 13 coaches on the sidelines, a head coach that makes over $100K annually to teach one class per day, an outrageous weight room, personal trainers for the players and now I hear the coach is recruiting players from outside the district to play. Additionally the football team’s rings are costing the taxpayers $36,000. Originally the story was the booster club paid for the rings, then it was a wealthy alumni made a donation and now the true story comes out. Another way to piss away money that should be used for educating the students in the district. Why don’t we clean the football program up by replacing all the coaches after season and starting fresh!