‘Very public lynching’ maligns John Bapst

Berry Woolley’s letter to the editor (BDN, June 30-July 1) regarding what she believes to be the “true story” of harassment allegations at John Bapst Memorial High School is, like Gordon Bonin’s original article, missing some salient facts. This is true of the letter by Mary Corbett (BDN, July 2). I know neither of these people, and have no specific argument with them, nor do I question the sincerity of their remarks.

I teach at John Bapst. I began my work there as a coach. The second thing the principal said to me at my teaching hiring interview, after asking why I wanted the job, was, “Do you understand our position regarding harassment and student contact? We have very strict rules on this subject.”

This was nearly four years ago. He went on to explain what he believed defined inappropriate behavior.

After attending sexual harassment workshops at both John Bapst and Sugarloaf USA, I can say that what the principal outlined was basically the definitions given at those workshops. While I was given no formal policy document at the time, and the school may have been at fault in that regard, there has always been in my experience, a deep and honest concern for students at Bapst.

It must be noted that Madonna Mooney has never even met the accused faculty member, was not a student in any class of his nor an athlete that he coached. Why did Bonin not mention this? Any serious journalist would have found this to be pertinent and included it in the original story.

Why have these other two letters from people who seem to be part of this complaint, or at least privy to inside information regarding the specifics, not mentioned this as well? The accused teacher has not ever been informed of the exact complaints made against him. This is crucial to understanding this issue.

In America everyone is guaranteed the right to face his or her accuser and have the charges against them made clear. Mooney and her cohorts are granted the right to accuse without the accused being informed of the particulars.

The accused teacher has been given only a summary of these allegations from the Office of Civil Rights. Have we become a banana republic? The outrage here should include the lack of due process, the spinelessness of cowardly unattributed accusations, and the abject violation of a man’s civil rights. If these charges truly have merit, why the secrecy?

Without specificity these allegations are no more believable than those made at Salem during the witch trials.

I am not privy to any inside, or confidential, information in this matter, and since, like the accused, I do not know exactly what is alleged, I am left to watch what may be a very public lynching by a group of people who appear to be more petulant than truly aggrieved.

If Bonin had made the secrecy of these allegations part of his original article he might have spared us all a great deal of self-serving claptrap from Mooney and her ilk. Mooney is, in my humble opinion, acting gutlessly.

Bruce Pratt of Eddington is a teacher of English, drama and journalism at John Bapst Memorial High School.