Sad soap opera in South Country School District
Superintendent Joe Cipp Jr. during a South Country Board of Education meeting (March 7, 2012) Credit: Photo by Joseph D. Sullivan
The long-running soap opera in the South Country Central School District has reached a major turn in the plot: the resignation of the embattled district superintendent, at a large cost to taxpayers. Unfortunately, though, the aftereffects of the struggle over allegations of grade tampering seem likely to drag on for a long time.
In this ethnically and economically diverse district in southern Brookhaven Town, the school board is sharply divided. The superintendent is on his way out. The former high school principal is suing, claiming he was illegally fired. The athlete whose grades were allegedly altered, but says he improved them by hard work, has a cloud over his head. And what of the thousands of students who are the object of the whole enterprise? Has this bitter battle hampered the district's efforts to improve their schools?
The interim superintendent, Howard Koenig, starts May 2. He must try to restore some peace and keep this woeful episode from hurting the students. That's a tall order, because he'll be reporting to a fragmented school board. The nine-member board acted correctly in taking the charges seriously and launching an investigation, but the process became terribly rancorous. Three board members issued an open letter calling on the board president and vice president to resign over their handling of the mess. Those two and four other board members signed a letter saying the open letter was unethical. So Koenig's job will definitely not be a walk in the park.
The story broke in December: Kevin O'Connell, the former principal at Bellport High School, said he had lost his job for refusing to go along with pressure from above to raise -- or direct a teacher to raise -- the math grades of a football star, Ryan Sloan, so he could get an athletic scholarship to Syracuse University. O'Connell accused Joe Cipp Jr., the district superintendent and former football coach, who is a community legend for winning more football games than any other coach in Suffolk County history.
Cipp denied the allegations and asked for an investigation by someone outside the district. The school board quickly did the right thing in hiring a former Suffolk assistant district attorney, Bronwyn Black, to investigate. Last month, Black's preliminary report found that the grades had been improperly changed, and that Cipp "must have been involved or must have known what was going on." On Wednesday night, Cipp resigned, and the board voted 5-3 to accept. He'll get a lump-sum payment of more than $545,000 in salary alone.
The controversy has been complicated, but the lessons are clear: If, in fact, the final verdict turns out to be that Sloan's grades were altered as alleged, the moral of the story is that no football scholarship is worth the disruption and destructive example that grade-altering sets. If Cipp did either direct or countenance grade-altering, he clearly let his long devotion to gridiron excellence weaken his judgment and entangle the whole district in a damaging controversy.
Starting with a vote on three board seats in May, district residents will have a chance to shape the board that will work with the next permanent superintendent. We hope voters will choose wisely, balancing the emotions of the controversy against a calm determination to serve the most important people in this drama: the students.
