Riggs wanted Perry Local officials out
By MALCOLM HALL
PERRY TWP. – David Riggs, who wants to be head wrestling coach at Perry High School, made an unsuccessful request that the job interview not include the Perry Local School District’s two top administrators.
The top administrators ” Superintendent John Richard and Assistant Superintendent James Hodinka ” met with Riggs last week to hand him a three-day discipline suspension and reprimand notice. Currently, Riggs is a building trades teacher and assistant wrestling coach at Perry High.
“We felt that in light of the way this whole matter has been handled with Mr. Riggs, and the possibility there could be litigation arising from this matter, we believe that Mr. Richard and Mr. Hodinka might have a conflict of interest,” said attorney Gary Corroto, representing Riggs. “Mr. Riggs has taken the position the letter of reprimand was misleading and factually incorrect.”
The head coaching job became vacant in late September when Brian Dolph resigned. During much of September, Dolph and Riggs were on paid suspension from their coaching and teaching jobs.
In suspending Riggs for three days without pay, administrators laid out allegations involving possible misuse of funds raised by a booster club that supports the high school wrestling program.
Attention also is focused on what became of money generated from clinics and wrestling club sessions that Riggs and other wrestling coaches held at the high school. Participants paid to attend the sessions.
“The clubs and clinics that he ran were right out in the open,” Corroto said. “The administrators that were around saw what was going on there. You are not talking about three or four kids working out together in some remote secluded area of the school. You are talking about 100 kids in the gym working out at the same time.”
The Police Department is investigating to determine if there has been unlawful use of booster club funds.
“The case is still under investigation; it is not completed,” Police Chief Timothy Escola said. “The investigation does involve both (Riggs and Dolph).”
Meanwhile, school district officials, including Richard and Hodinka, interviewed Riggs on Friday for the head coaching job. Efforts to contact the administrators late Friday afternoon were not successful.
Riggs had been the head wrestling coach from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s when he stepped down. He returned as assistant coach. The high school has one of the most successful wrestling programs in Ohio.
“The fact that he applied for the job demonstrates how important those kids are to him,” Corroto said. “He doesn’t want to see his wrestlers hurt or disadvantaged because they are looking for a coach at the last minute. I think that it is in the best interest of the Perry community and Perry wrestlers that the hiring process be carried out with the utmost fairness.
“Mr. Riggs is clearly the most qualified person to lead that wrestling program. He built that program over the past 19 years into a powerhouse program.”
Corroto, through a letter to Mary Jo Shannon Slick, an attorney who represents Stark County schools, made known Riggs’ request to bar Richard and Hodinka from the interview process. Corroto’s letter also asks that Richard and Hodinka have no part in selecting the head wrestling coach.
“I am not surprised that he made the request,” said Keith Heist, president of the Perry Classroom Teachers’ Association. “Do I think he is asking for much? It depends on your perspective. I haven’t seen any evidence that he has done the level of wrong-doing that they suggested.”
The association is the collective-bargaining unit representing teachers.
Riggs, through Corroto’s letter to Slick, suggested either the Perry Local Board of Education or a committee that does not include the two top administrators conduct the interview and select the new coach.
“He can make all the requests he wants,” said James Casey, a Board of Education member. “I don’t know who is on the interview committee. I don’t know who else applied for the job. We just have to let the interview process go. We don’t sit in on interviews.”
Although Corroto’s letter mentions possible “litigation,” the attorney said Riggs’ main goal now is to have district officials supply documentation proving their allegations.
“He is going to evaluate every option open to him,” Corroto said. “He wants to expunge this letter of reprimand from his personnel file.”
Reach Repository writer Malcolm Hall at (330) 580-8305 or e-mail: [email protected]
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