Breaking the quiet at O'Hara

It had been fairly quiet the last couple of weeks at Cardinal O'Hara High School, with the dust finally settling after the flap involving the removal of the school principal.

The quiet ended yesterday.

Parents received a letter from the school informing them that a part-time track coach at the school had been arrested by Chester Township police.

The letter was emailed to me overnight by a person who was wondering why the school gave no other information about the arrest.

I think I know why. It's not pretty. Christopher Smith is charged with corruption of minors. Here's our story today on the charges filed against Smith.

In our coverage of this story, we did not mention Smith's connection with O'Hara in our headline, although we do point it out in our story.

We also did not place it on our front page.

The incident did not occur on school grounds and did not involve any O'Hara students. Police allege the incidents occurred in Smith's home.

Still, I can see why parents would be left wondering about some things after receiving the letter from Bill McCusker, president of O'Hara, and Pete Balzano, associate superintendent of secondary schools for the archdiocese.

No doubt this will offer those who like to criticize us the opportunity to claim that the Daily Times is once again picking on O'Hara, showing our anti-Catholic bias.

In the meantime, I'm still waiting for somone to tell me why Marge Rogai was dismissed as principal.

Comments

Anonymous said…
If this would have involved Chester High School in some way it would have been a front page story, I wonder why it was not so for O'Hara.
Anonymous said…
Because people cover up for white people. But they're quick to put black people on the front page!