School System Once Again Paints Over Message Supporting Coaches

ANDOVER, MA -- For Andover Public Schools officials, painting and repainting a hallowed rock must be starting to feel a lot like a game of whack-a-mole. Twice already this week, school officials have painted over a message reading "Respect Our Coaches" on the rock that has been a place for generations of Andover High School athletes to mark victories. As of Wednesday evening the third attempt at posting the message was still in place, but that had more to do with the wet weather than a sign of surrender.

In case you're just joining the drama, over the weekend a group of alumni painted the rock with the phrase "Respect Our Coaches" as a response to recent incidents where coaches have been placed on administrative leave and had details of those leaves leaked to local newspapers. On Monday, Andover High School Principal Philip Conrad had the rock painted over, saying "The rock is for the students to decorate as a sign of their graduation, it is not a place for community members to send messages to one another."

This year's graduating class seems to have perceived their principal's comment as a dare. On Monday night the class of 2018 decorated the rock with the words "Respect Our Coaches" and "Class of 2018." That message was painted over by the end of the day on Tuesday. That night, a larger group of students from the graduating class gathered and painted the rock again with the respect our coaches message and the class of 2018 signature. That message survived through a very rainy Wednesday.

In the interim, a group of residents who may or may not have been getting sick of buying white and blue paint for $20+ a gallon at Home Depot have set up a GoFundMe page. The group behind the page has already ordered 300 yard signs with the message and are "working on T- shirts, bumper stickers whatever we can to spread the message that Our Coaches need to be Respected."

The paint race is the latest in an ongoing debate on whether or not the school system is supporting coaches who are accused of wrongdoing by their athletes. Twice this year Andover has place coaches on administrative leave following allegations by students but before those allegations were fully investigated. In addition to volleyball coach E.J. Perry, Andover placed three hockey coaches on administrative leave and later reinstated them when the allegations proved to be unfounded, but not before details were leaked to and published by the Eagle-Tribune and other newspapers.

The fear is that athletes on a team or students in a classroom who don't like a coach or a teacher can make allegations and that the coach or teacher will be disciplined before an investigation is completed. That was the case for both Perry and Kucher, and in both cases details were leaked to the Eagle-Tribune.

In Kucher's case, the allegations proved to be unfounded. And while an investigation into the allegations made by Perry found he used profanity, racial stereotypes and demeaning comments, those findings were overshadowed by how the investigation was handled. It didn't help that over the weekend Andover Public Schools Superintendent Sheldon Berman had to apologize for mistakingly sending a copy of a confidential letter to volleyball coach E.J. Perry to a newspaper reporter.

There's evidence that two of the players involved in the volleyball incident understood that coaches would be disciplined first and questioned later. They understood it well enough to start planning last season to oust Perry with a scheme they called Operation Hydra, in reference to a Marvel Comics plot line where a person's reputation is ruined.

As for the rock, it has been a focal point in Andover for generations of students and student-athletes. The rock, according to residents, is painted with messages marking graduation and big sports victories. The rock is considered such a central part of the school's culture that a road relocation project was modified in 1996 to preserve the rock.

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Photo by AHS Class of 2018.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).