Home Forums Long Island & Eastern New York Soccer Message Boards BOTN Main Message Board Questioning again, SUSA ECNL DOC JR's Conduct

In light of the recent revelations regarding Paul Riley and other touchy-feely youth & professional soccer coaches, BOTN wants to share what we feel may be a red flag that has been ignored or buried by John R. Balzarini (JR) the current girls SUSA ECNL DOC.



What goes through your mind when you find out a teacher has been relieved of his/her teaching position? Rarely, if ever, school administrators and board members make it known or even comment what the exact and/or real circumstances were surrounding their decision. Truly, that is a personnel matter.



Now, what if that teacher is also your child's soccer trainer, and/or interacts with your child? What if the head of the training organization that the trainer works for turns deaf, dumb, and blind to any serious allegation? Don't you, as the parent, care and want to know?



In the beginning, BOTN was introduced to JR when BOTN was inundated with numerous weird, and questionable player and training solicitation posts. So much so that BOTN had to notify JR to stop, and when he didn't, we then blocked his access. Unfortunately, JR didn't get that no means no, and that the intended "message" of blockage did not stop JR.



Even after being blocked, the posts for players and training superiority for multiple Smithtown SC teams (Hotspur, Spirit, Firebirds, Cosmos, Panthers) continued. While JR continued to unsuccessfully deluge BOTN with unacceptable posts, this time from his workplace, the Miller Place School District, it is at this point where the "As the Soccer Ball Turns" soap opera starts....



While BOTN tried unsuccessfully to keep up with, and block the various school district IP addresses our thought was to contact the school district and request that access to BOTN be blocked from the source, the Miller Place School District server



You can read BOTN''s initial letter to the school district to try and enlist their assistance. You can read that letter here



You can also read the district's reply to our letter here



At the time of these initial writings, JR was a trainer with the LIPS group of trainers all whom were also educators. (see it here) All of this transpired prior to JR joining SUSA.



Since joining SUSA, in past years BOTN had frequently brought this matter up with Moussa Sy only to have him pivot away from any meaningful discussions on this matter.

Fast forward to this past Summer where once again there have been parents posting complaints on BOTN about JR's behavior, language, and general treatment toward SUSA ECNL players and other players. JR is currently the SUSA Girls ECNL DOC.



Yes, all of the above is old news, kinda, but JR's behavior is still current news and therefore doesn’t change the issue at hand. As an aside, BOTN also wants to point out that just last week an employee in the Babylon School District was put on paid leave for allegations he was involved with a student(s). Babylon SD Employee



We don’t know if the teacher in the Babylon School District was tenured, but JR was a tenured teacher. Tenure letter 1
Tenure letter 2



What does it mean when a teacher is granted tenure you ask?



Once a teacher is granted tenure - a right that must be earned after three years or more of service, oversight and evaluation - a teacher cannot be fired without a fair hearing. Tenure protects teachers from political, personal or non-work related firing, including false accusations. Schools cannot fire older teachers to hire younger teachers for lower salaries. Teachers can teach controversial subject matter like evolution without fear of reprisals.



What can get a teacher fired?
To terminate a teacher, usually one of the following must be proven: immoral conduct, incompetence, neglect of duty, substantial noncompliance with school laws, conviction of a crime, insubordination, fraud or misrepresentation.



Can you get fired if you have tenure?

No matter how egregious the reasons may be, a tenured faculty member has the right to a hearing before being fired. Tenure, by definition, is an indefinite academic appointment, and tenured faculty can only be dismissed under extraordinary circumstances like financial exigency or program discontinuation.



In fairness to JR, he claims he resigned and was not fired, JR resignation letter and as noted and linked below, sent BOTN his positive evaluations, but still his claiming personal reasons for his resignation does not make sense, at least it didn't to BOTN or to acquaintances of ours that are teachers. Personal reasons didn't stop his soccer training and coaching, did it?. (If there are negative personnel reviews or comments we will never know since a person's personnel file is not subject to FOIL. We can only show the files JR chose to share with BOTN)



Upon reading these reviews, BOTN's opinion was more concerning due to what JR presented was truly a bright future as a teacher and educator. In our opinion, JR scored big time!! You can make up your own mind after seeing what he gave up to be a trainer/coach at SUSA, and unless SUSA is offering JR and their other trainers what JR claims he willingly gave up, it makes no sense to resign for a nondescript personal reason.


See JR's teacher's salary history here,


Miller Place SD average teacher salary here,


JR's average base annual earnings as of today if he was still teaching here, & and his

union rights of employment and full benefits here.



Is he getting all that money & benefits from SUSA? We don't think so.



Does Susa or any other club or academy offer their coaches and trainers the same or some of these amenities, i.e., job protection, health and other benefits and a comparable salary as a tenured teacher in the Miller Place School district? I don'’'t think so!! Oh, and teachers only work 180 days a year and they have Christmas week, Winter break, Easter/Passover week, and July & August off.



The inability to get to the documented truth makes these concerns all the more relevant in light of the current downfall within girls & women's soccer thanks to Paul Riley and others.



JR, your teaching career appeared to be trending upward, a bright future, and then you crashed it? WTF?

I have made numerous requests to Moussa at SUSA to get an answer and obviously he has side-stepped it all these years and without question we will never know if Moussa or Glenn know, or ever asked, or was given some BS reason by JR. Besides, SUSA does not want to rock the ECNL gravy boat.



Our best guess is the only folks that know the full story are JR, and the Miller Place School District and they rightfully can't say, and JR knows that!!.



In closing, the reality is none of the parents of the players playing under the guidance of JR will never know what’s truly behind the JR teacher's curtain.



FOOTNOTES & DOCUMENT LINKS



* JR's email containing his reviews & evaluations



BOTN does not know if every job review was sent or if they were selectively chosen by JR. Those performance reviews and the remainder of JR’s personnel file are not subject to FOIL so BOTN has no way to determine that all were included, or if they were chosen selectively?



PLEASE READ: Any posts containing any claims of fact pro or con to what is posted above is welcome. Just make sure that you are a registered user and logged in, and that you have support documentation. Opinions and comments are welcome, but your post needs to be attributable to you and not anonymous.

Have you read the story (See Story here) from Newsday where 5 former students from the Babylon School District have made allegations of sexual misconduct? That is why it is so important for you folks playing with or are around JR, and one of the other questionable coach’s at SUSA who harrassed an adult woman, to be vigilant and demand documented answers.

Larry, let me preface by saying that I am not JR and have never even met the man, nor am I challenging any factual information that you have provided above; however there are 2 things that stand out to me in regard to said information. Firstly, the documentation shows that he resigned from his position voluntarily and was not fired. Was the resignation forced? Possibly, but it's impossible to say with certainty without more information. Secondly, it does not appear that he was specifically accused of, charged with, or convicted of any crime. Is the school district covering something up, or sweeping it under the rug? Again, possibly, but impossible to say with certainty.

Unless I am mistaken, I understand your position to be that a voluntary resignation from what appears to be a desirable job should be looked upon with suspicion. Perhaps so, but what specifically do you think happened in this situation? That's what I'm not clear on.

Their courts for this and a legal system!

Not to be insulting but making this statement shows your head is buried somewhere and you're completely out of touch with reality. Sadly, kids and adults get victimized for long periods of time befor the reactive system IF ever takes over. Even when the system takes over they are victimized again in different ways.

Adults running programs that involve minors have a legal duty to provide a safe environment free of verbal and sexual abuse. That doesn't always happen and as parents we need to be realistic that there are predators at our children's school and in their athletic programs.

I have watched many parents look the other way with some really bad behavior over the years. If adults that witness abusive behavior don't speak up how are we to expect teenager children or younger children to speak up?

This is not just a Susa problem, though they have a handful of really dreadful people around kids. This is a problem in youth sports more than any other arena. Parents have lost touch in their main duty as a parent. See or hear something that is wrong for your child or their teammates then you speak up and if your voice is not heard then you move on. There are too many of the wrong adults involved in sports. Sports should be a small portion of what makes your child whole. Allowing these mentally deficient adults to negatively impact your kids youth is negligence. I have no tolerance for adults who use their power in a manner that is abusive but some of the parents I see weekly feel differently and that is what allows this all to continue.

IMHO, what happened with this JR character is, "you resign quietly and we will not pursue this further". Since he accepted and voluntarily resigned means that there was definitely something to the allegations. Larry is 100% correct, you do not resign from a good position like JR did, he folded like a bad poker hand. So the shadow of suspicion is likely very justified.

OK, but what were the allegations? If they had something to do with an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student, the school district is not allowed to just cut a deal with him if he leaves quietly. The school district is required by law to report any such suspected relationship to the authorities, and no subsequent criminal charges appear to have been filed. Just speculating, but perhaps whatever he did was improper and maybe immoral, but technically not illegal.

That is not 100% true. I know that was not the case at Hewlett HS when my daughter went there. Her history teacher, who was voted by the students as teacher of the year, was involved with a student. The involvement as I’m told by my daughter was sexual.

The teacher was put on administrative leave for one year and then the teacher resigned, and if it wasn’t for the fact that my daughter and other girls who knew each other, knew what was going on, I wouldn’t of known about it, and the community at large still doesn’t know about it. So what you’re saying, is not true.

Possible? Yes. Probable? We’ll never know and that isn’t good .

They may have and they may have not but when the incident that I’m referring to above happened I don’t believe the laws of changed. By the way since you seem to know so much about the law what specifically changed and when did it change?

Citing a current law now may not have been in affect when the incident in my daughters high school and the resignation of J.R. happened.

Yes, I agree, and I said as much. This law appears to have been revised many times over the years, and very likely was not in place, at least in its current form, when your daughter was in HS. My main point was that schools presently have a legal mandate to report any allegations or suspicions of this kind.

OK, but what were the allegations? If they had something to do with an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student, the school district is not allowed to just cut a deal with him if he leaves quietly. The school district is required by law to report any such suspected relationship to the authorities, and no subsequent criminal charges appear to have been filed. Just speculating, but perhaps whatever he did was improper and maybe immoral, but technically not illegal.

Everyone is talking about why he left his school teacher job, what about his FC COPA coaching job Larry? any idea why he got fired from FC COPA? have you reached out to Roberto FC COPA owner?

Teachers leave under cloudy circumstances all the time. School doesn't want the burden and publicity of proving, Suspect doesnt want the allegations seeing the light of day

I guess maybe you didn't read the entire thread, or maybe just couldn't comprehend. It does not matter what the school wants or doesn't want. IT IS AGAINST THE LAW FOR THE SCHOOL TO NOT REPORT THE ALLEGATIONS and failing to do so could result in criminal prosecution. Do you understand now?

If you are addressing me, that may be the way it is today, but it certainly wasn't when my daughters were in HS, and again, don't hold any BoE or district up as holier than thou, or following the letter of the law. We do not know and will never know what really happened.

What happened in Babylon is an alleged former student let it out. Maybe one day, if there was an issue with a student and JR at Miller Place Middle or High School, it will come out.

Where I come from If you mess with a child or a family and fried you will be dealt with by my own legal system which consists of taking you out back and beating the crap out of you and then we can let the legal system do something.Justice is in the eye of the beholder.

The following is copied and pasted from the NY Post

More than 20 ex-students at LI high school accuse teachers of sex misconduct
By Selim Algar
November 22, 2021

More than 20 former Babylon High School students have stepped forward to accuse teachers of sexual misconduct, leading school officials to yank a slew of educators from the classroom.

The mountain of troubling accusations surfaced after former student Brittany Rohl, 28, heard that a teacher at the Long Island school was removed from the classroom earlier this month because of “disturbing” sexual allegations.

That led Rohl to write a detailed letter to the district’s school board — and post it on Instagram — accusing one of her former teachers there of grooming her for sex beginning at age 16.

Rohl then flew from her home in Florida to a school board meeting last week in the Babylon Union Free School District, where she outlined her charges in person.

Over 20 ex-Babylon High School students have come forward to accuse teachers of sexual misconduct.
A parade of former students — some of them weeping — joined her in telling the board about their own experiences with alleged teacher misconduct.

“I think it was an open secret,” said former board president Linda Scordino at the meeting, referring to the alleged teacher sexual misconduct.

“But there were very few people who had the guts to fight it,” she said, accusing school administrators of having stifled her efforts to combat predatory teachers in the past because they were more concerned about property values.

“It was part of the culture. It wasn’t just one or two teachers. It was almost like a cultural thing,” she said of the alleged misconduct.

The former-student accusers — whose allegations ranged from attempted kissing to commentary on student physiques and inappropriate correspondence — refused to leave the meeting until the board agreed to reassign five targeted teachers still employed by the district.

The proceeding, which drew more than 1,000 observers on Zoom, didn’t end until roughly 1 a.m., when the board finally caved to the demand.

Superintendent Linda Rozzi repeatedly told Rohl and others not to mention the accused educators by name. The district recently retained outside legal counsel Chris Powers amid the accusations, and he said the remarks coupled with outing the teachers could constitute defamation.

But Rohl ignored those warnings and recited the names of the accused during the meeting.

District officials have noted that the allegations — some of which are decades old — are difficult to substantiate.

But the Suffolk County Police Department’s Special Victims Unit has been in contact with the school district regarding the allegations, according to News 12 TV.

It doesn’t appear that any of the accusers have filed formal complaints with cops, at least yet.

Meanwhile, the father of one student has written to the state Attorney General’s Office to demand a wider probe of sexual misconduct at the school.

The spiraling controversy has rocked the small village of Babylon and its 12,000 residents.

“People are shell-shocked,” said a village official who declined to be named. “You go from being a quiet, tightly knit community to this.

“It’s had a major impact, and it feels like there’s no end in sight right now,” the source told The Post.

Scordino wrote in a Facebook post Monday that she was receiving threats because of her outspoken positions.

“Today, I received an anonymous threatening letter in the mail,” she wrote.

The district has pledged to probe all of the allegations — but Rohl said she has her doubts about whether an impartial investigation will be conducted.

“The removal of the teachers is too little, too late,” she told The Post on Monday. “The resistance from the board of education is the nail in the coffin for why they are not fit to lead the district.”

Babylon school officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

I wasn't addressing you, Larry, I was addressing the previous anonymous poster.