Parents, students and coaches appeal to Conneaut Area School District board to reinstate suspended football coaches

Public commenters at the Conneaut Area School District Board of Directors meeting on Jan. 14 urged the board to reconsider suspensions that removed two longtime football coaches from their roles, saying the coaches should be reinstated and that district policy and evidence warrant further review.

Steve Veneri, who identified himself as an assistant football coach suspended after an incident last fall involving four student athletes on a bus, told the board he and fellow coach Ted Jastrom were never told what written policy they had violated. "To this day, neither coach Jastrom or myself have been told what written policy was violated," Veneri said, adding that he understood the initial handling but disputed how the follow-up was carried out. He also addressed a community insinuation about a scholarship check: "There was a check written to my daughter, Isabella, ... for $2,000. It was an honest mistake from the person involved at the Eagles Foundation," Veneri said, stating the funds were sent directly to the university and did not pass through his or his daughter's hands.

Parents, fellow coaches and students gave the board multiple first-hand appeals. William Ford, who said he is an educator and a father from the district's southern region, urged the board to allow second chances: "When mistakes are made, I think we have to look at an opportunity to give people second chances," Ford said. Nicole Veneri, the district football liaison, read a letter from a parent and asked whether the district had put new bus policies in place, questioning whether the disciplinary response had been consistent across staff present at the incident.

Multiple speakers cited the coaches' long-term influence on students. Scott Henleiter, who said he has coached with Veneri for 36 years, called him "an asset to your program" and warned that losing experienced coaches could jeopardize programs. Student speakers also appealed directly: Aiden Ford, a junior and two-year varsity player, asked the board to vote to reinstate them, and freshman Jack Jones, who said he was one of the four students involved, told the board he believed the coaches should not have been fired.

Board members did not take a vote on reinstatement during the meeting. Veneri said he had been told there likely was not board support for a reinstatement vote that evening; the meeting proceeded to routine agenda business and a series of approvals on financial, personnel and program items.

The public speakers repeatedly asked the board to clarify or adopt bus supervision policies going forward. "There wasn't a policy put in place," Megan Bartick, a varsity cheer coach and parent, told the board. She said coaches often sit in the front of the bus and cannot see incidents in the rear, arguing policies should account for how staff actually supervise student travel.

The board heard the appeals during the public-comment portion of the Jan. 14 meeting and moved on to the scheduled agenda. The meeting concluded with an adjournment and an announced executive session to discuss a student matter or ongoing litigation; no further public action on the coaches' status was recorded at the meeting.

Next steps: The board provided upcoming committee and meeting dates and said it would go into an executive session after adjournment to discuss a student matter or litigation. The transcript does not record a formal board response to the specific reinstatement requests or a timeline for further action.