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Parent urges board to pause appointment after allegations of emotional abuse in varsity boys soccer program
Summary
Parent Angela Wilhelm told the Massena Central School District board that multiple players raised concerns about the varsity boys soccer coach’s treatment during the 2024–25 season and urged the board to pause personnel appointment item 34; administration subsequently asked that item 34 be tabled for a future meeting.
Angela Wilhelm, a parent of two Massena Central students, told the board during the public-comment period that she and other families raised concerns last fall about the treatment of players on the 2024–25 varsity boys soccer team.
"It became a pattern of emotional harm," Wilhelm said, describing players as having been spoken to in a demeaning, belittling way. She quoted an example she said was told to players: "I would rather jump off a bridge than be your coach," and said other remarks signaled that some athletes no longer felt valued or wanted to play.
Wilhelm said parents and players raised those concerns with the athletic director in October and with Superintendent Burke in November 2024. She asked the board to "pause, reevaluate this appointment — line 34 on the personnel action report — and truly listen to the voices of the students and families who have been affected." She also said only 10 athletes had registered for the 2025–26 varsity season, which she described as a red flag about the program's health.
Following public comments, Superintendent Burke later asked that two personnel items be pulled from the personnel slate. During the personnel actions discussion, administration formally requested that item 34 be tabled until a future meeting; the board voted to table that item. Trustee Mr. Oliver also stated he would abstain on an item that "applies to my lovely wife," indicating an abstention on a personnel matter discussed during the session.
The transcript does not record any on-the-spot board response to Wilhelm’s allegations beyond the administrative request to pull and table the personnel item. The board took no public adjudicative action on the substance of the complaints in this meeting; tabling of item 34 means the board will revisit that personnel matter at a later date.
The board did not provide a timeline for the next steps on the complaint in the public record of this meeting. The district may have separate personnel and investigatory procedures that apply to complaints about staff; those procedures were not detailed in the discussion recorded in the transcript.
