Unresolved Corruption in WPS (Rape, Racism, Fraud, Discrimination)

I read about recent events surrounding Wayland Public Schools Superintendent Omar Easy. His charges of racism shouldn’t surprise anyone. School leaders, including the School Committee, have a long history of covering up allegation of criminal behavior, enabling discrimination, and retaliating against anyone who dares address the illegalities and inequities. Human rights, diversity, equity and inclusion…not in Wayland.

For those who don’t know me, I was WHS athletic director from 2013-15. I won a whistleblower lawsuit against WPS in 2019 after I was fired for informing administrators about serious problems in the athletic department. While I ultimately won my lawsuit, I lost my home, career, retirement…everything.

I was raised in a quintessential New England town (Duxbury) with a great sense of community and schools dedicated to academic and athletic excellence. That’s why I took a job and bought a house in Wayland – so I could experience that same, wonderful small-town vibe that shaped my formative years. However, when I arrived in 2013, the WHS athletic program was in crisis. Two auditing firms had uncovered massive fiscal issues, two ADs had been fired in three years, the outdoor facilities were decrepit, and a student had been murdered by a WHS football player. In addition, former WHS AD Martha Jamieson had sued WPS and accused its leaders of ignoring the following: rape and sexual assault; fiscal fraud; MIAA cheating violations, cheating on MCAS exams; abusive, threatening behavior by several coaches; terrible gender equity. Unfortunately, I was unaware of it all because school leaders did not disclose the lawsuit to the ###a>public

I did not walk into the job without credentials. Years ago, I was the captain of the Yale soccer team and received an MBA from Ohio State, where I was tasked with making athletic department budget cuts. Therefore, I was the perfect person to clean up Wayland’s athletic mess. The School Committee demanded fiscal accountability and directed me to make large (30%) budget cuts ($100k in total). However, attempts to make these cuts fairly across the board were met with threats and intimidation – threats to have me fired if I didn’t fund all football/wrestling excesses as was the norm at WHS. Former AD Jamieson had made similar accusations.

Fiscal misconduct in the WHS athletic program was widespread, as detailed by two ADs and two Boosters treasurers. My review of athletic accounts also showed that for several years the football program had misappropriated money to pay for its pre-season trip to Maine. Very simple – other fall athletes paid their sport user fees and that money was diverted to pay for the football trip. Numerous boys’ soccer parents complained they had no record of large sums of money they had given to the program. It was my duty to investigate. I reported to the principal that $15,000-35,000 had gone missing over several years. The list of fiscal impropriety was long.

These same programs had coaches running around without having done any requirements for coaching in schools. No CORIs, concussion testing, driving record check, etc. As an AD, priority one is keeping kids safe. With so many loose ends and problems, the chances of something bad happening go way up (imagine a cardiac episode occurring on a weekend and the coach in charge not having a key to access the defibrillator or CPR training). And, if something goes wrong, who will be made the scapegoat – the AD.

People don’t want to discriminate, it’s usually the residue of cowardice. The discrimination in Wayland’s athletic program resulted from powerful coaches who expected excess funding and privilege, something multiple WHS principals accommodated. When football players and wrestlers violated the same MIAA rules for which WHS girls were suspended, I was sternly told it was none of my business. I dealt with frequent complaints from students, parents and coaches who were tired of a system of ‘equal and more equal’. The complaints had substance, so I stuck my neck out for teams who’d been underfunded and underappreciated. What I got in return was nothing. Without public support, I became a pariah in town and a target of harassment and abuse by members of the football community and ultimately the police.

At the end of my tenure in Wayland, I learned the details of the Jamieson lawsuit. Most troubling, she and several faculty alleged that school leaders covered up incidents of rape and sexual assault. The most notable case involved a star football player. Under oath, WHS football coach Scott Parseghian stated that the father of the victim reported the incident to him and that he (Parseghian) immediately called the police. Another incident involved a varsity coach (who happened to be dating Mizoguchi’s sister at the time), and a third involved a football player. I submitted a public records request to the WPD asking for all incidents of rape and sexual assault reported by WPS employees. The WPD responded that they had no reports. A year later, I made the same request, only this time the WPD said the information was confidential - standard boiler plate used by police departments. I have since checked FBI Crime statistics which show that not a single rape has been reported to the WPD since 2004.

In order to better understand the Jamieson allegations, I spoke to the families of the victims. One mother informed me her daughter was raped by a Wayland wrestler (this was later confirmed to be true and the WPS settled her lawsuit). I spoke to another who said her daughter was raped by a star football player. She was in tears as she informed me that the school pressured her daughter not to pursue criminal charges. She also said school guidance counselor Jim Griffin was so angry about the school’s response that he angrily tore down a Wayland football poster from his office wall.

The unwillingness of school leaders to deal with the problems was not lost on students. Here's a quote from a former Wayland student, Class of 2008 who emailed Superintendent Stein in 2015:

“The town placed more emphasis on football than anything else, to the detriment of the drama, arts, and countless other non-athletic programs. Anyone who so much as questioned Coach P was immediately ripped to shreds by his football players. who were practically cult-like in their devotion to him. I’m so tired of the fear that grips this town- the notion that speaking out against the blatant corruption could cost you your spot on a team, your friends, a letter of recommendation, your volunteer positions, etc.”

“As a Wayland educator, you have purportedly dedicated your career to strengthening the education of Wayland's children and creating a better school system. Part of that role includes being honest about the system's shortcomings, even if it means risking your own position. Unfortunately, you and your fellow administrators sent a clear message that you wish to continue with business as usual. just as Wayland has done for years.”

“I'm disheartened to hear that you played a role in this cover-up. I hope that you had a legitimate reason for terminating Mr. Cass and that this wasn't about protecting Scott Parseghian. I really don't think that Mr. Cass deserves to be punished for speaking out. when he was the only one brave enough to do so.”

Her words were prophetic. After being fired illegally, I was harassed by members of the Wayland football community for months, endured two bogus restraining order attempts by David Gavron and Alan Catrina, was falsely arrested in my home by the WPD and targeted/harassed by its officers for nearly a year.

A year ago, a young lady who was a victim of sexual assault settled her civil case with the WPS. On her Facebook page, she wrote:

“Steven Cass ###a>was fired for bringing attention to Wayland Public Schools’ various scandals and misconduct. They have a long history of sweeping things under the rug, including my (and other victim’s) continuous sexual assault [...] and their blatant choice to ignore it. I know there are others from this corrupt school system who never got justice for their mistreatment and have been abandoned by the school board that was supposed to protect them. I also know it’s hard to come forward. Trust me, I know. But it’s necessary for change, and now is the time.”

This teenage victim of sexual assault had the courage to stand up for herself even as the adults who should have protected her turned away. Numerous current and former WPS administrators ‘kicked the can’ to the next person and have seen their careers flourish. Perhaps the person most central to the cover up is former WHS principal and MA Secretary of Education Pat Tutwiler who, along with Paul Stein, Brad Crozier, and WSC chair Barb Fletcher, covertly signed the Jamieson settlement agreement then hid the lawsuit and accompanying allegations from the public.

Among many examples of the WPS’s long history of suppressing damaging information was their 1/23/2019 response to a simple public records request in which they offered to release public emails in exchange for $83,501.45. Another was the written threat issued by the School Committee to WPS employees not to speak out against the WPS regarding the above allegations. Emails from 2015 and 2017 indicate that WSC Chair Ellen Grieco and BOS Chair Tom Fay were made aware of the rape allegations but initiated no investigation.

Inevitably, there is a price to pay for mistreating good people, and WHS athletes now pay that price. My last year in Wayland (2014-15), the high school athletic program reached its pinnacle, having won an unprecedented five state championships and achieved a #7 ranking out of 40 Division 3 schools in the Boston Globe All-Sports Rankings. The past two years, Wayland ranked 31 of 39 schools by the Globe. This past Fall, its ranking dropped to 35 of 39. In fact, WHS teams ranked highest in my two years (online Globe data goes back 15 years). The two best years. Much better than before I arrived and better than every year since.

So, how does a town go from among the best to worst in five years? Well, you had a great AD with exceptional credentials and skills. However, you also had school leaders who had little interest in the success or welfare of WHS students. Consequently, when two former athletic directors reported threatening behavior and fiscal fraud by coaches, neither the School Committee nor the administrators opened any investigations. Their own professional and financial welfare came first.

Circling back to the recent allegations of racism against the school committee. When accusations of bullying involving Dr. Easy, and fiscal/accounting issues involving former METCO director Mabel Reid Wallace and WHS athletic director Justice Smith came to light, the School Committee / administration jumped into action. Dr. Easy was suspended; Ms. Wallace, and Mr. Smith were fired. These three administrators are all black. The coaches mentioned above are white, received no punishment, and still work at WHS. You do the math.

Nothing is ever going to change unless the people of Wayland stand up and demand accountability from their school officials.