Wolcott Public Schools

1488 Woodtick Road • Wolcott, Connecticut 06716

Telephone 203-879-8183 • Fax 203-879-8182
Superintendent of Schools Business Manager
Anthony J. Gasper, Ed.D. Todd W. Bendtsen, C.P.A. ..

Director of Student Learning & Teaching Director of Student Services & Alt. Programs
Frank Purcaro Kevin Hollis ..

November 5, 2018

A Letter to the Wolcott High School Football Students, Parents, and Coaches
The incident at St. Paul High School on October 26, 2018 brought shame to the WHS football program, the school, Board
of Education, and community as a whole. But perhaps an even bigger embarrassment has been the ensuing week since
the incident and the unwillingness by the majority of the students at fault to step forward and take responsibility for their
own actions. Also disheartening is the coaching staff’s lack of knowledge of the incident and/or their willingness to share
this with the school leadership.

I read the team’s letter of apology to St. Paul and also the article printed in the Republican-American this Saturday. There
were many things to like about the letter/article. It is good to see the students’ willingness to write a sincere apology. It
is good to see their willingness to perform community service. It is good to see their passion for the sport. What is
extremely disheartening and what makes this whole situation worse is that the letter/article reveals that the students
themselves know who among them is responsible for these damages and those students are not stepping forward and
neither are their teammates. Students have been given multiple opportunities to do so by the coaching staff and school
administration but most have not. The school has on its website an anonymous mechanism through which students can
voice any such concerns. This, then, is blatant defiance and insubordination of the school administration’s authority.
And, students who are defiant and insubordinate should not be allowed to participate in school sports. Therefore, the
team will forfeit the November 9th game against Sacred Heart/Kaynor Tech unless the following resolutions are achieved:

 Each student who caused damage to the St. Paul locker room will step forward and meet with Mr. Drewry
individually and privately to discuss how the damage occurred no later than 2:00 PM on Wednesday, November
7, 2018.
 Each student who caused damage to the locker room will be responsible for making restitution for that portion
of the damage to the locker room.
 Each student who caused damage to the locker room will sit the bench for the November 9th game against Sacred
Heart/Kaynor Tech. If any of these students are seniors, they will be allowed to participate in the recognition
ceremonies but will not play.
 Each student who caused damage will write an individual letter of sincere apology to the St. Paul leadership.
 The full team will perform community service arranged by the coaches and school administration between now
and Thanksgiving.

The Board of Education and I would very strongly prefer the resolution laid out in the bullets above rather than having to
forfeit but if the remaining responsible students do not step forward the team itself will have left us no other option.

Respectfully,

Tony Gasper, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools