Fairness In School Sports

Mr. Dale                                                              9/26/07

Since you are the Superintendent, we believe you must get feedback from some of the tax payers of Fairfax County regarding your Director of Student Activities.

What he has failed to do;

Has not been able to provide VHSL training to all FCPS coaches.

Has not been able to provide FCPS training to all FCPS coaches.

Has not been able to stop FCPS employees from using their FCPS.EDU email address for their private businesses.

Has not been able to do back ground checks on all coaches.

Has not been able to get signed contracts for all coaches.

Has not stopped abuse of student athletics in FCPS sport programs.

Has allowed FCPS employees to break FCPS rules.

Has not answered question straight on, rather he gives half answers and protects FCPS employees.

Has failed to have any type of automated program that would provide easy status knowledge of training or background checks.

Has failed to control the misuse of FCPS fields and equipment.

Has not moved ahead with safety programs in FCPS weight rooms.

Has not eliminated the on going conflicts of interest problems in FCPS sports.

Has looked the other way when hard evidence has been given to him by parents.

After two years he has not improved the school sport programs, rather they have become worse.

The above is our opinion.

Mike Grasso
President
Fairness In School Sports, LTD

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Mr. Storck                                                                9/25/07

Since the school Board rates the Superintendent, we believe you should get some feedback from some of the tax payers of Fairfax County.

What he has failed to do;

Has not improved the grades of no child left behind. Minority report card.

Has not eliminated abuse of student players.

Has permitted the posting of students grades, which is a violation of FERPA rules.

Has not reduced the on going conflicts of interest by FCPS employees.

Has failed to show cost savings for new FCPS building.

Has failed to manage and control FCPS sport programs.

Has failed to maintain safety in school weight rooms.

Has failed to reduce the number of portable trailers.

Has failed to control the use of portable trailers with inspections and air quality checks.

Has failed to take action against FCPS employees who break the rules.

Has failed to control FCA activities in FCPS. ACLU violation.

The above is our opinion.

Mike Grasso
President
Fairness In School Sports, LTD

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Mr. Dale

At SCSS the football coach required that players needed to make 10 out of 12 summer workouts. Is this allowed by FCPS or is this a violation of VHSL and FCPS rules? What action has been taken? At SCSS the football coach indicated that any missed summer workouts would have to be made up after their normal practice sessions. Is this allowed by FCPS? Is there a time limit for practice sessions? Is practicing after a normal two hour practice a violation of VHSL and FCPS rules? Does this practice of double sessions put the players into an unsafe health condition? At SCSS the football coach promoted the word of life summer School. Is this permitted by FCPS? What about other options for the students? Is this practice of double sessions going on at other schools? I would suggest that safety comes first with all student over the need to win. Awaiting answers to the above. Respectfully Yours, Mike GrassoPresidentFairness In School Sports, LTD

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Mr. StorckI am going to take issue with your statement that “our staff is addressing the concerns that THEY believe are significant.”  I think this is where most of the miscommunication between FISS and FCPS is occurring.  As you know, before FISS, FCPS had no policies in place regarding coaches and conflicts of interest.  FISS was pleased that FCPS acted on many of our recommendations and employed Bruce Patrick to create a coaches handbook which clearly defined these new rules.  The problem is, Paul Jansen is not communicating to the coaches that, (1) the rules must be followed and (2) if they are not followed, there will be consequences. We have shown FCPS how one of your coaches was pressuring parents to attend his private business and stating that their participation would help their kid make the team.  We even showed FCPS the cancelled checks.  The result-nothing.  The coach is still employed.  We show FCPS that one coach, who is also an assistant AD, was conducting a private camp over a 6 week period on school property and never bothered to file a community use application.  The response; FCPS sent a “bill” to the coach. Nobody at FCPS was the least bit bothered that an Assistant AD was not following the rules. That coach/AD is still employed. We mention that we are concerned that the Centreville HS Football coach is posting the player’s grades on their public website.  We tell Paul Jansen that it is a FERPA violation.  Paul responds that he does not have a problem with it and that this tactic is used for “motivation”.  Only after we threaten with a FERPA complaint to DOE do we get a response from Mounusko’s office saying that “the coach was ignorant of the rules” and that FCPS has no control over booster or individual team websites. We proceed with a FERPA complaint because we find it inexcusable that FCPS does not understand that SOMEONE at FCPS is disclosing these grades and that is what must be stopped.

We state that we are troubled with the fact that The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is being invited to team practices.  We show Jansen the FCA newsletter which has a photo of a coach with the caption ” Coach _____ led his team in an optional Lords Prayer following practice.  Jansen’s response: this coach isn’t employed with FCPS anymore and that might have been a violation.  No follow-up. Does it not make sense to look into whether other coaches are doing this same thing?

Each of these examples is a teaching moment.  It is an opportunity for FCPS to notify coaches that this behavior is prohibited and that there will be consequences. SOMEONE needs to be made an example.  Instead, FCPS engages in a reactionary strategy where they “put out fires” instead of engaging in preventive practices.

I hope you understand our frustration, how many examples of abuse of players, conflicts of interest and coaches promoting their private businesses do you need?  We would like to see good faith gestures on FCPS’s part and frankly we are not seeing that.

Please treat your employees the same way you treat FCPS students when they break the rules. Respectfully Yours, Mike Grasso

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Mr. Storck                                                         9/21/07

Since I have not received any answers to these questions am I to assume that the Fairfax County Public School Board approves of  and sanctions posting of student GRADES?Does this indicate that the school board is in violation of FERPA rules and is doing nothing about it? Or does this indicate that the FCPS system is in violation of FERPA rules? When will the FCPS system enforce their rules and the Federal Governments rules? Something is wrong here and it needs to be corrected. Mike Grasso

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Mr. Jansen

What do we have here? More conflicts of interest? Players being told what non school teams to play on in the fall? Have these players made the 2008 teams already? What about tryouts? Are these out of season practices? How much do they have to pay to play on these teams? Is this another violation of VHSL rules? Is this a violation of FCPS rules?

Once again FCPS sport programs are out of control and no FCPS official is doing anything about it.

More to come.

Mike Grasso

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Mr. Storck                                       9/19/07

This is what I know;

FCPS has 15,000 students who attend school in almost 1,000 portable class rooms every day.
FCPS does not perform any air quality test in any of these 1,000 portable class rooms.
FCPS does not perform any inspections of these portable class rooms either inside or out.
FCPS does not have security of students that must walk between these portable units and the main building and back.
FCPS does not have fire alert systems in these units.
FCPS has some schools that have to many students.
FCPS has some schools that do not have enough students.

As my representative on the school board, this is what I need to know;

What short term plan does FCPS have to reduce the number of students in these units?
What long term plan does FCPS have to eliminate these portable units?
Why does FCPS not test the air quality in these units?
Why does FCPS not perform inside and outside inspections of these units?
Why does FCPS not insure security of students that move between the portable units and the main building?
Why does FCPS not have fire alarms in these portable units?
Why does FCPS have school with to many students?

The EPA has lots of good information on what should be done when portable units are used for students.

Please let me know as my representative the answers to my questions.

Mike Grasso

PS I have information on how some school systems are dealing with the problems of portable classrooms.

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Mr. Stork                                                   9/19/07 We are forced to file a formal complaint with you and the school board against FCPS based on the facts that they have not answered all of our questions and they have failed to take corrective against FCPS employees who have broken FCPS rules. This is evident because FCPS employees continue to abuse players, promote their private businesses and disregard student safety. When will it end? We have been forced to file formal complaints with the ACLU and the US Department of Education in order to get corrective action. Please let me know what action you and the school board will take? Mike GrassoPresidentFairness In School Sports, LTD

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Mr. Jansen                                                      9/19/07 

Last night we emailed you information regarding the following:

1. FCPS employees are still using their FCPS email address for their private business.2. FCPS employees telling their players what teams they will be play on in the off season.3. FCPS employees promoting their business with their players and paying other FCPS employees to bring their players to his camp and they will be paid. When will these FCPS employees play by the rules? We have been telling you for the last two years that your employees have been breaking the rules and as of this date FCPS has not been able to correct the problems of player abuse, conflicts of interest and insure safety for all students. The ball is and has been in your court, now do something about these employees who break the rules. Mike GrassoPresidentFairness In School Sports, LTD PS More to come.

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Mr. Storck                                                   9/13/07 As of today I have not received answers to my questions listed below and I know that FCPS has violated FERPA rules and regulation. Mr. Moniuszko admitted to us in his letter to me that they violated FERPA rules.We have filed a complaint with the U.S.Department of Education based on FCPS violations. Mike Grasso

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