Muniz cleared to play at Executive
D11 panel approves switch from Freedom to charter school
It took more than two hours on Tuesday morning in the Whitehall-Coplay School District board room, but District 11 granted eligibility to Jevin Muniz, the boys basketball player who transferred from Freedom High School to Executive Education Academy Charter School and set off a firestorm in the local basketball community.
The vote was unanimous, with five District 11 committee members voting.
“I’m very happy about it,” said Robert Lysek, founder and CEO of Executive Education Academy. “It was a long, thorough proceeding and I have to thank the board for their time and we’re happy with their findings.”
Freedom had challenged the transfer, feeling that Muniz, who received significant playing time as a freshman last year, was being recruited and left the school for athletic reasons, which is a violation of PIAA rules.
While Muniz can now play for the Raptors, the hearing came with a word of caution for the school.
Frank D’Angelo, a longtime area official and a member of the committee, made a motion that was unanimously passed by his fellow members.
“My motion is to direct the Executive Education Academy and all of their representatives to develop and implement a policy to monitor their social media outlets to ensure adherence to the PIAA policy as it relates to transfers and recruiting situations,” D’Angelo said.
Freedom officials expressed disappointment in the district’s decision.
“I am extremely disappointed in the decision that was made,” Principal Michael LaPorta Jr. said. “I felt our case was very,
very strong specific to the evidence we brought. Unfortunately, the District 11 committee didn’t feel the same way.”
LaPorta felt the district’s recommendation to Executive “was very telling.”
“They were told to clean up their social media and develop a policy of communication,” LaPorta said. “You hate to see a kid get punished, but the PIAA has rules for a reason and when we believe they are broken, it’s our responsibility to police ourselves and protect the rules. We felt we did that.”
Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent Joseph Roy echoed LaPorta’s sentiments.
“I am surprised and disappointed by the decision of the District 11 hearing committee,” Roy said. “It’s hard for me to imagine a stronger case demonstrating an athletic intent to transfer than this one. Our goal was to advocate for basic fairness and the proper application of PIAA rules. We obviously did not achieve our goal.”
While Executive Education Academy is in its fifth year of existence, it is in the first year of having athletic programs at the varsity level and hasn’t dealt with issues involving social media and general communication between staff members and potential students.
“We really don’t have a policy in regard to what they’re requesting,” Lysek said. “But we will address that immediately. You’ll see that in motion in the next couple of days. We take any recommendations from the board very seriously.”
District 11 will aid EEACS’s efforts to do so.
“Social media is relatively new and Executive Education is a new member school,” District 11 chairman and Whitehall High Athletic Director Bob Hartman said. “Part of our responsibility is to provide them with knowledge and discussions to help them do things in the right way. I am not saying they’re not doing things the right way, but District 11 needs to give them support. We want all of our schools pulling in the same direction. It’s a challenge because high school athletics are incredibly important and there’s frustration with these rules, but I felt we found an appropriate balance today.”
The motion may have stemmed from allegations made by Freedom coach Joe Stellato and Dieruff coach Joe Jarjous that text messages were sent by Toomey Anderson, a member of the Executive Education Academy staff, to players in an effort to recruit them to the school on Union Boulevard in Allentown.
Jarjous had two players transfer from Dieruff to Executive Education Academy, Jahson Chico Whyte and Justin Rockmore.
Jarjous said he has seen text messages from other people that confirm recruiting, but he didn’t reveal them. Anderson and Lysek have denied any wrongdoing.
“Are they recruiting, did they recruit? Anybody who doesn’t realize that is blind,” Jarjous told The Morning Call Monday night. “There was recruiting done.”
The Executive roster also includes two more transfers in Amari Mills, who played at East Stroudsburg North last season, and Kahleel Foster, who played at Salisbury a year ago.
Tuesday’s hearing was closed to the public and media by request of Executive Education Academy.
“I can’t discuss what was discussed, but both sides were very professional and presented what they thought was their best evidence,” Hartman said. “The committee voted to grant eligibility for the athlete. But at the same time, we realize there may be concerns on the other side of the street in regard to athletic intent, transfers and recruiting, and it’s something we’re going to ask them to address internally so they can help District 11 and help put themselves in a better light.”
Although the District 11 committee has 20 members, only five joined Hartman at the hearing because there was also a Colonial League meeting Tuesday.
In addition to D’Angelo, Robert Felty Jr. from Tri-Valley High School, Tamaqua Superintendent Ray Kinder, women’s officials rep Anne Wenninger, and former Pocono Mountain West basketball coach Brad Pensyl also attended.
Hartman said that there have been at least six hearings this school year to determine the eligibility of student-athletes.
“Every one of these are a little bit different,” Hartman said. “I’ve talked to representatives from Freedom and Executive several times in the past week. They ask questions about procedure. It’s a huge learning curve. I learn every time as well. Sometimes there’s a learning curve for the attorneys involved as well.”
Strained relations
Despite Tuesday’s ruling, the relationships between EEACS and other public schools might be strained for awhile. Things have festered for several months.
In addition to being upset by the loss of two senior players to EEACS, Jarjous was angered by an incident that he said happened several weeks ago.
Jarjous had twice previously spoken to students at EEACS in a role as a motivational speaker, but wasn’t allowed to address the students on a recent visit.
“I read in the newspaper Mr. Lysek ask why no one wants to schedule their team,” Jarjous said. “Well, I came to their school to do a luncheon through a program involved with motivational speaking and they threw me out of the gym. So how are you going to build relationships when you do something like that? My presentation was about life lessons, not about basketball, and I wasn’t allowed to stay in the gym.”
Jarjous said he was surprised that he didn’t receive a warm reception as he had before, but Lysek said his staff heard negative remarks coming from the Dieruff coach about the school.
“Mr. Jarjous has been on our campus multiple times supporting an executive lunch, speaking to our seniors about a career path,” Lysek said. “Up until this particular meeting everything was fine, but prior to his last visit, there was some behind-the-scenes discussion [by Jarjous] that weren’t positive about our school.
“We didn’t throw him off the campus. We mentioned to him that it wasn’t best for him to speak to our students at this time. We want to keep our relationships strong with all coaches and everyone in the Valley. In this case, it came back to feelings. I don’t live in the sports world, but there are relationships and feelings there.”
Lysek said Jarjous wasn’t physically thrown off the premises or even escorted out of the building.
“He was just told he wasn’t welcome to speak to our students that particular day,” Lysek said.