Warwick schools failed their co-op

By Jacob Marrocco
Posted 3/24/16

There was a lot of blame thrown around in the situation revolving around the Warwick Co-op girls’ ice hockey team, but none of it can be shoveled on those it affected the most.

More than six …

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Warwick schools failed their co-op

Posted

There was a lot of blame thrown around in the situation revolving around the Warwick Co-op girls’ ice hockey team, but none of it can be shoveled on those it affected the most.

More than six weeks had passed between report cards being released, and the self-report from Toll Gate to the Rhode Island Interscholastic League that resulted in Warwick’s disqualification from the title series. The disqualification that came the day the title series was supposed to begin.

For six weeks, the Lady Titans played ice hockey the only way they knew how. For six weeks, their ineligible player went unreported. Had this been brought to the RIIL’s attention in early February, Warwick might find itself in the finals.

However, those most affected by the various failures of higher-ups were the ones who could do nothing about it. The ones who could do nothing but skate out on the ice, score goals, play defense and learn from their wins and losses.

Those in control were the ones who failed. The grades had gone unnoticed for six weeks. One look, which is all it took Friday, and a call to the league would have solved the issue. Whether it was head coach David Tibbetts who noticed, or Athletic Director William Parker, it could have been handled before it ever became controversy.

Even with the problem of an unreported, academically ineligible player, Warwick still had a chance to fight for its spot back in the title round.

At the Rhode Island Principals Committee on Athletics meeting on Monday, Warwick principals had a chance to argue their position for the co-op.

No one showed up from Warwick, according to a report from The Providence Journal’s Bill Koch.

Not Toll Gate Principal Stephen Chrabaszcz, Vets Principal Gerald Habershaw or Pilgrim Principal Pamela Bernardi. Assistant Principal David Tober, who, along with Parker, reported the violation on Friday, was not to be found. These principals may have had meetings, or other matters to attend to, but no one was even sent in proxy. The players and their parents were assured representation of some kind, but received none.

There was also supposed to be a meeting between RIIL Executive Director Tom Mezzanotte and Director of Secondary Education for Warwick Public Schools Steven Ruscito to discuss the matter. No record of that meeting exists, and if it did, it certainly didn’t do any good.

Warwick Superintendent Philip Thornton supported the decision made by RIPCOA as well.

The Warwick Co-op was left helpless, and despite the pittance that Toll Gate will have to pay as a fine and the two-game suspension for Tibbetts, the players were punished the most.

Attorney and player parent Bob Savage, in a position statement sent to the Warwick School Department, listed numerous alleged violations from the RIIL in its handling of the matter. Included among these missteps was that it states nowhere in the RIIL rules and regulations that a school system’s ineligibility standards override the Interscholastic League’s.

“[RIIL]’s failure to thoroughly read, interpret, and follow its own rules when it rushed to judgment on Friday, March 18, 2016, resulted in it misapplying its own rules,” the position statement reads. “WPS should determine how it wants to handle a violation of its local academic eligibility rules and demand that RIIL support its decision. Under the circumstances, we believe that the WPS should simply find that the athlete in question will not be allowed to play in the Championship Series and that the errors made in applying the local rules were unintentional and do not warrant any further penalties.”

However, as previously stated, no one was there at the RIPCOA meeting to read that statement. Its tough language could not make a dent in the case without representation. It fell on deaf ears.

Yet, everyone has to move on from the matter that had made for a stressful three days. It just seems as though the school administration moved on Friday, when the players and parents waited until the bitter end on Monday to do so.

The mishandling of the situation cost Warwick Co-op a storybook playoff run, toppling the No. 1 seed en route to a matchup with La Salle, with whom it has a deep postseason history. No one can answer the question of why this wasn’t reported for six weeks, and it doesn’t seem like it is coming any time soon.

Those who failed to report won’t be affected too much, but the players who were mentally preparing for a state title run only to have it ripped from them five to six hours before puck drop will be. They will get over it, but the errors made along the way should be learned from in the future.

For now, though, the tremendous oversight within the school department, from the top down, cost Warwick Co-op a chance to play at Brown.

This oversight is the reason Pilgrim’s Madison Balutowski, the all-time leading goal scorer in state history, cannot cap her four years with a title. It is why junior defenseman Natasha Savage, among the other players from Warwick Vets, cannot finish their time as Hurricanes with a state championship. Toll Gate senior Kelsey Holmes, one of the most integral parts of the co-op for several seasons, also cannot hoist a trophy.

Six weeks from now, most of the Warwick players will be fully immersed in spring sports and the hockey playoffs will be a distant memory. However, much like how many feel right now, they will wonder how things could have been different six weeks ago.

Update, 5:37 p.m.: Thornton held a meeting at Toll Gate on Thursday afternoon with some players and parents from Warwick Co-op. He told them that the "entire system failed."

Comments

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  • JohnStark

    Jacob Marrocco perfectly captures the insanity of all this. Hardworking, good kids were grossly shortchanged due to a complete abdication of professional responsibility and, yet again, no one in the hierarchy of the Warwick public schools is held accountable. This is an outrageous and inexcusable disservice to these kids, and clearly explains the perception of the rest of the state when it comes to Warwick's high school athletic program. Shame on all of you! Good season, girls.

    Thursday, March 24, 2016 Report this

  • TonySaccoccia

    The Warwick School Dept. is an utter train wreck. Teachers no-showing Open Houses like a bunch of 2yr olds because they don't have a contract, and "management" a veritable circus sideshow act in the handling of this particular issue. Little wonder as many of them as possible send their own kids to private schools.

    Thursday, March 24, 2016 Report this

  • JohnStark

    Tony, 19 girls are listed on the roster of the Warwick Co-Op team on the RIIL website. That means that 18 kids were penalized because a myriad of "leaders" didn't do their job for at least six weeks. And the school department's collective response: Say nothing, don't grant interviews, keep the media out, and hope it all goes away. This is the same tired bunch that's attempting to reassure parents about efforts to make Warwick's high school graduates more literate. The biggest beneficiaries of these 'efforts': Hendricken and LaSalle.

    Thursday, March 24, 2016 Report this

  • Justanidiot

    Cheaters never prosper.

    Friday, March 25, 2016 Report this

  • NixHex311

    Let's blame the schools, the school system, the coaches, the AD - sure. Why not?

    How about putting SOME kind of blame, however, on the player who caused the infraction? Anyone actually thought holding the player accountable?

    Monday, March 28, 2016 Report this

  • JohnStark

    Nix: I don't disagree. The kid's grades were not up to par. But it is not the kid's responsibility to know chapter and verse of RIIL eligibility rules. Supt. Thornton acknowledged same by telling parents and players the "entire system failed". He's right. Multiple people in the system are paid to oversee this. This incident typifies the entrenched culture of Apathy that pervades Warwick's athletic programs.

    Tuesday, March 29, 2016 Report this

  • Justanidiot

    People are upset because the cheaters got caught.

    Tuesday, March 29, 2016 Report this