Bickering continues over rowing club quarrel

SOUTH COVENTRY >> Community members in the Owen J. Roberts School District criticized the school board and administration for not doing more to help their students who were kicked off the Owen J. Roberts Crew Club team.

Residents said their issue with the club, privately funded by parents, goes beyond a simple parent disagreement before lodging serious allegations against the club. The district says it has done everything in its power to try to help resolve the situation with the club.

During the Feb. 27 school board meeting, Superintendent Michael Christian read a statement regarding comments made at the previous month’s school board meeting regarding the club and the ability of students to partici-

pate in the sport. The club uses the district’s name and students participate in the scholastic rowing competition each spring. Over the past several weeks, he has received multiple emails and phone calls regarding student participation and adult behavior surrounding the issue.

“Regardless of which side people have taken with regard to the alleged behavior of adults, almost all of those who have contacted me agree that students should be afforded an opportunity to participate,” he said. “To that end, Owen J. Roberts believes the crew club has been a positive experience for many of our students. Additionally, we unwaveringly believe it is wrong to exclude a child because of a parent’s conduct. Equal access for all students is a fundamental principle embraced in all educational settings.”

The district, he said, has spent several hours trying to persuade both sides to resolve their differences but has been unsuccessful to date. It will continue these efforts, nevertheless.

“Lastly, we ask that all parents and adults put aside personal differences, avoid communications that criticize other individuals and focus on all actions on serving our student athletes,” he said.

In rebuttal, parents criticized Christian’s comments and the school board for not doing enough to help their students. They said they feel this issue is more than just a simple parent dispute.

Michael Giongo, whose daughter Alex was removed from the crew team, said he was shocked and surprised by Christian’s comments.

“After the three or four times you called me today, your private comments do not reflect your publicly stated comments here this evening,” he said to Christian. “I’m very disappointed by that.”

The issue was not simply a parent dispute, but rather a

rowing club “out of control.” It began after he requested basic financial disclosure and questioned the organization’s tax exempt status as a nonprofit organization, Giongo said.

“We asked for three things: bylaws, an annual budget and an income statement,” he said.

None has appeared to date, he said.

Afterward, attorney Daniel Sager, representing the club, threatened legal action and gave conditions for his daughter to return to the team. Among the stipulations included both he and his wife could no longer be members of the club, they could no longer attend practices or competitions, and could not contact the club’s board of directors. Lastly, they must stop trying to involve the school board.

Giongo said the club has misrepresented itself as a tax exempt organization for over five years, has failed to abide by Pennsylvania law regarding registration of charitable organizations and misrepresented itself as a district sanctioned activity by using the district’s address as its headquarters. Further the club has failed to resolve a conflict of interest regarding donated funds paid to the Coventry Rowing Club, a for-profit entity apparently owned and operated by the family of Kim Edleman, the club’s president.

Lastly, Giongo criticized the club for obtaining and disseminating student records without obtaining authorizations for the release of such records from students’ parents or guardians, a violation of the Family Education Rights Privacy Act.

“I ask you this, my daughter has been put on the sideline for three months,” he said. “I ask you to do something.”

“Our daughter did absolutely nothing wrong,” said Marie Giongo. “This is retaliation for questioning the lack of transparency the crew team and it’s leadership.”

Sager called it inappropriate to comment on a disagreement between a parent and the school district.

“The club has not participated in any discussions between the Superintendent Dr.

Christian and Mr. Giongo,” he said in an email to Digital First Media. “In fact, no representative of the club has ever been requested to participate in any discussions between Mr. Giongo or any representative of Mr. Giongo and Dr. Christian or any representative of the school district. Furthermore, neither Mr. and Mrs. Giongo nor any representative of Mr. and Mrs. Giongo have even communicated with the club directly since November or December. They are not members of the club.”

If discussions related to the club had taken place “it probably would have been helpful if both parties had invited a representative of the club to meet with them, since the club, or issues relating to the club, were allegedly the subject of their discussions,” he said. Sager declined to comment further other than to say the club and its parent volunteer members were looking forward to the spring regatta season.

Other parents were also upset with the district’s interpretation of the situation and the way the club was being run.

“I am livid at how you made this out to be,” said parent Denise Wierzbicki. “I was a parent that trusted Kim Edelman. She asked for money because she said the team was in the red. I trusted her. I didn’t ask to see any books. I gave money. She told me it was tax deductible. I put that on my taxes. That has absolutely nothing to do with her or me or how we get along.”

Keith Morris, a resident of East Vincent Township and a teacher at the high school, said he was a crew athlete in college and started the rowing program at the high school. “And I left because of the behavior of Mrs. Edelman.”

The reason his son isn’t rowing for the high school “is because I’m not allowing him to because of the decisions that are made by the club. I love the sport. I was nationally ranked in the 1980s for about 30 seconds. It’s a lot of fun. I still row today,” he said. “I would love to teach kids how to row. But my son is not rowing here because I’m fearful.”