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Residents pack meeting to support Conestoga High coaches

More than 150 residents crowded the Conestoga High School auditorium Monday night to express support for the football coaching staff during a special meeting called to discuss the recent alleged assault of a freshman in a locker room.

More than 150 residents crowded the Conestoga High School auditorium Monday night to express support for the football coaching staff during a special meeting called to discuss the recent alleged assault of a freshman in a locker room.

For the most part, speakers told the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District's administrators and school board that the football players accused of assault were not being treated fairly.

"I feel that our school board let our students down on a variety of levels," one woman said.

Three football players were charged this month with assault. The school district's investigation found that hazing on the football team had occurred for years, apparently without the coaching staff's knowledge.

This month, the entire staff was removed and head coach John Vogan resigned.

Many residents questioned the need for the removal of the coaching staff.

"To fire them without due course of what's going to happen in the legal system is inexcusable," said a man who described himself as knowing one coach for 42 years.

A former football player said Vogan treated all players with respect and taught integrity.

"It's a true tragedy to see what's happening here," he said.

Some speakers said administrators shared in the blame for not knowing that hazing was occurring and called for a culture change in the top-ranked district to protect students.

The district will post a head coach job listing on Tuesday and will form a committee to hire the new coach, school officials said Monday, giving new details about the future of the football program.

Addressing a parent who asked why the next football season was not canceled, Superintendent Richard Gusick said administrators decided not to cancel it because of the players, cheerleaders, band members, and color guard members who did not participate in hazing and would unfairly bear the consequences of such a decision.

The school district's investigation began after the Chester County District Attorney's Office announced March 4 that three senior football players faced assault and related charges in Juvenile Court.

A freshman player accused the three seniors of holding him down and penetrating his rectum with a broom handle during the football season last fall, according to prosecutors.

The same freshman was one of several students charged in November with harassing and distributing sexually explicit images of a classmate in another scandal that rocked the school district this academic year.

When a resident said Monday that he thought the District Attorney's Office sensationalized what happened in the football locker room, most of the audience clapped loudly.

One of the football coaches the district let go echoed parents in describing Vogan as a great leader. He said allegations of hazing were false.

"For the past month, I've seen an endless attack on the young men and the football program I love," said former assistant football coach Tom Batgos, who said he worked for more than a dozen years at Conestoga before being let go along with the other coaches.

Residents said the accused students are being treated as if they are guilty before being convicted.

Two football players told the administrators that other students make fun of the team and they believe that teachers look at them differently since the hazing and assault allegations came to light.

School officials said Monday they will look into the students' concerns.

Alleged hazing on the football team included upperclassmen placing their genitals on the heads of underclassmen and forcing underclassmen to clean the locker room in their underwear during what was referred to as "No Gay Thursdays," days when certain sexual behaviors were deemed permissible.

School officials decried the behavior and the phrase in a letter to parents March 17, when they also acknowledged the furor of district residents and announced Monday's special meeting.

School officials are searching for sports psychologists to talk to the football team to understand what happened and how to move forward and apply best practices to all sports, said Conestoga principal Amy Meisinger.

mbond@philly.com

610-313-8207@MichaelleBond