By Judy Wakefield
Ken Maglio, the longtime Andover High School coach told he would no longer coach Andover football and baseball about six weeks before the fall season, has a simple question.
"Why?" an emotional Maglio asked at a public gathering Monday afternoon. "I just want to know why...I have done nothing to be ashamed of. I just want to know why it happened."
He addressed some 50 supporters at a meeting organized by the Andover teachers union. Held in the School Committee meeting room, union president Tom Meyers and Maglio asked the committee to publicly discuss the reasons for his firing last June. The committee did not attend. Rather, the committee's lawyer addressed the crowd.
Naomi Stonberg said the Maglio issue is being handled as a grievance, which it would address only in a closed-door or "executive" session.
Mark Sheehan, a legal consultant assigned to Andover by the Massachusetts Teachers Association, asked the committee to reconsider its position and to let the public in on the Maglio discussion.
"These people came for a reason," he said. "This whole thing is a secret and you're going behind their backs."
Maglio said he is only interested in meeting with the School Committee in an open format. He said he had been offered a $5,200 buyout from the schools to resign, but refused it.
"The subcommittee of the School Committee was prepared to hear a grievance under the Collective Bargaining agreement in executive session," read a statement from the School Committee available Tuesday. "It seems clear that neither the union or Mr. Maglio were sincerely interested in having a grievance heard under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, but rather their sole purpose was to conduct a public display in support of Mr. Maglio."
Meyers on Monday called the School Committee's position a "delay tactic" saying Maglio deserves to be treated better after working for the Andover School Department for nearly 40 years.
Kerry Costello has chaired the union's grievance committee for some 30 years. She said the way Maglio was treated is "a travesty" and the union will continue to fight for him.
Former School Superintendent Ken Seifert, who hired Maglio and who submits a weekly column for the Townsman, said he was "embarassed" for Andover.
"All he wants to know is 'what did I do wrong?'...He deserves to hear from the organization he worked (in) for 40 years," Seifert said. "The integrity and dignity of the (school) system was a tradition. That tradition is now broken."
Wearing a crisp suit and armed with pages of positive job evaluations, the 61-year-old Maglio thanked his supporters and said he will not walk away quietly from his unexpected termination. On June 29 he was told by Athletic Director Chris Bergeron the AHS football program was heading in a new direction and his 17-year coaching job was over. And that was it, he said.
Maglio holds no grudges against Bergeron or new AHS varsity football coach John Rex. His beef is with the School Committee and Superintendent of Schools Claudia Bach and the way his involvement with the schools came to an abrupt end, he said.
"They won't meet with me, won't return my calls," he said. "Some people might say it's just a job, walk away...to me, it's my life."
The School Committee's statement said, "The superintendent had offered to meet with Mr. Maglio. He did not attend a grievance hearing on Aug. 4 and refused to meet with the superintendent on Sept. 30. The superintendent has indicated the administration had several discussions with Mr. Maglio about concerns with the existing programs and the need to make changes."
COACH MAGLIO BACKGROUND
Ken Maglio offered the following information:
- 1970: Maglio is a student teacher in Andover and is eventually hired by the town to teach physical education at West Junior High School.
- Coached AHS freshman baseball for 22 years.
- Coached AHS freshman football for 26 years.
- 1993: Named AHS varsity baseball coach and teams win state and conference titles.
- 1996: Named varsity football coach at AHS. Posts 70-67-2 record and cites "lack of a feeder system" for his so-so record.
- June 12, 2009: Meets with former AHS principal Peter Anderson and learns his coaching job is being talked about but there is no talk of his firing as Anderson supports him.
- June 18, 2009: Believing he will be back, Maglio and the football team make plans for upcoming strengthening and conditioning sessions, says Maglio.
- June 29, 2009: Maglio is on the baseball field at AHS when he gets this news - he will not be asked back. AHS Athletic Director Chris Bergeron later tells him the football program is going in "a new direction." The new varsity coach is John Rex, a physical education teacher at Bancroft School and former freshman football coach at AHS.
- Summer, 2009: School Committee tells him he can take his $5,200 coach stipend and resign. He refuses and vows to "clear his name." Maglio also said he was contacted by former AHS football player Rep. Barry Finegold (D-Andover). Finegold confirmed that call and would only say he was surprised about the way Maglio was fired.
- Maglio supporters rally for him at The Park.
- Oct. 26: Maglio, who has the support of the Andover teachers union, vows to keep fighting until the School Committee tells him why he was fired.
