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(Nov. 8, 2010) - If you have been following the incredibly disgusting events at Penn State these days, you’re aware that Saturday a 23-page grand jury report was released documenting unspeakable actions allegedly committed by former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. The report is so graphic, I won’t even link it here. Google it if you’d like, but I warn you it will make you sick reading it.
The mainstream media has done a good job following up on it (Mike Wise had this excellent piece on it in Sunday’s Washington Post), but there is one point in all this that has gone largely unnoticed: Apparently with the information known by many highly ranked Penn State officials, including the school president, athletic director and even legendary football coach Joe Paterno, the people who actually stood up and got the authorities on the situation were high school officials.
Yup, high school football coaches, teachers and administrators. They were the ones who didn’t worry about image, national attention, football legacies, etc. They worried about one thing: the kids.
I discovered this in listening to Mike Francesa on WFAN in New York. On his show was Kim Jones, a reporter for New York station YES, a frequent guest on WFAN and a Penn State alum. She covered Penn State in 1998 – the last year Sandusky coached – knows the people, and like a lot of Penn State alumni, is disgusted with how all of this is unfolding.
Jones was on the air for about 35 minutes, going over all the charges and graphic details with Francesa, but then said something that caught my ear:
“It is a fact that Central Mountain High School In Pennsylvania is in Clinton County where Jerry Sandusky in recent years was volunteering as a football coach,” she said. “He was taking kids under his wing. The administrators there were allowing him during study hall to meet with children because it was Jerry Sandusky.
“But when a family went to those school administrators at Central Mountain High School and said he’s been inappropriate with my son - and thank God for this part of it - those Central Mountain administrators did exactly what Pennsylvania law requires them to do and they reported it and that is why the grand jury got involved and that is why (attorney general) Linda Kelly now has an indictment of 40 charges.
“Without that public school doing the right thing, this all would have been swept under the rug…forever.”
Everything I’ve read since Saturday is saddening on every level – saddening that so many adults didn’t do what needed to be done to aid helpless children, saddening because so many great people who love Penn State are seeing their alma mater’s reputation ruined by the stupid acts of a few, saddening because at so many times a lot of this could have been stopped a decade ago.
But if there’s one tiny glimmer of good in this, it’s Jones’ story that reaffirms what I’ve always known about the vast majority of high school coaches, teachers and administrators: They’re not doing it for fortune or fame. They’re doing it for the kids.
It took guts, courage and a strong sense of right or wrong to step up and stop a monster from further ruining the lives of innocent kids. It took someone not afraid of reprisal, someone not afraid of being called to testify, someone not afraid of what it would do to a college football program.
It took someone tough. It took a high school coach.
Read more of Dave Scarangella on his site DullesDistrict.com!
I am glad you figured out the motives of all those involved with the PSU scandal and to use it for your own agenda. We don't need to wait for all the details to be disclosed because you thankfully decoded it all by reading and listening to the media. You are a genesis. Thank you.
ReplyDeletePretty strong talk for someone hiding behind an "Anonymous" label. But just out of curiosity, what agenda are you referring to?
ReplyDeleteHey Anonymous Penn State Fan, it's GENIUS, not GENESIS.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see that Penn State education really working out for you.
It really is unconscionable that PSU leadership could look the other way after the first eyewitness account of abuse was reported, and every time thereafter as JS continued to travel with boys and hold overnight camps. They recognized the problem enough to restrict him from bringing boys on campus but not enough to call the police. Hard to fathom. I can't imagine cheering for the football team this weekend if two of those persons with knowledge remain on the sidelines. PSU leadership has demonstrated that the welfare of children is less important than the reputation of the university. Would you want your child going to school in that environment?
ReplyDeleteRead the report again Dave and also read Sally Jenkins commentary in the Washington Post on Wednesday for what is I think a well written and thought-out piece of work. One of the reasons I believe that much of the outcry finally came from the community was because that is where most of the alleged events took place and were after the one you refer to that took place at Penn State in 2002. There was also another report that was not made public that apparently took place in 1998. Yes I am a Penn State fan but also think that the purported events that took place are horrific and as a father can’t imagine what the parents and those kids have had and will continue to go through. Was Paterno guilty of not doing enough? A lot of people are judging him with the advantage of 20-20 hindsight. Read Sally’s article and read what was actually said to Joe by the eyewitness as stated in the report, and then think if you’ve ever said to yourself “I wish I knew then what I know now”. Oh, and yes I would be proud to sent my kids to Penn State!
ReplyDeleteRespectfully,
Don Cooper
To the author: I think you're going to have to eat your words. According to the mother of victim #1, not only was the high school allowing Sandusky to take her minor child off of school grounds without notifying her, but when the child admitted to the principal that Sandusky was molesting him this is what school officials said to the mother - from her TV appearance this morning: “They told me to go home and think about what I wanted to do, and I was not happy,” she said. “They said I needed to think about how that would impact my son if I said something like that. I went home and got [my son] and we came to [Children and Youth Services] immediately.”
ReplyDeleteIt sounds to me like these MANDATORY REPORTERS were telling her to think twice about reporting, when they should have reported it themselves IMMEDIATELY rather than simply banning Sandusky from school grounds.
It was the call from the mother, not the school that exposed Sandusky. It sounds like you and your sources don't have all the information here. The mother is, in fact, incredibly UNHAPPY with how the school handled the entire situation.
For those of you following the story, very interesting article just published on Sandusky with among the following: His biography he co-wrote, he insisted on being called "Touched" (no way this can be made up) and he was seen shopping Thursday at Dick's Sporting Goods in Penn State gear ... http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/7219828/no-one-seems-really-know-former-penn-state-assistant-coach-jerry-sandusky
ReplyDeleteFurther information on how the high school handled it when victim #1 informed school officials that he had an issue with Sandusky:
ReplyDelete"A school official reportedly informed the boy's mother of Sandusky's reputation in the community and, Gillum recalled, described the coach as having "a heart of gold." The mother reported her concerns to the Clinton County Children and Youth Services where Gillum worked." (This was reported by Michael Gillum, the victim's psychologist.)
Once again, that mother seems to be the only person in this entire situation with an ounce of sense. An assistant principal eventually reported the situation, as well (apparently only when they couldn't manipulate the mom out of doing so.) But it was the mom who was the first to report.
It's also reported that a coach walked in on Sandusky lying on top of the boy at the school, but didn't report the incident. That's yet another mandatory reporter who didn't do his job.