[N_Stripes]

Latest release from Board meeting. I am not sure I understand the coaches position in this article. He's the Special Ed teacher, you would think he had already been through sensitivity training. What an idiot.


PLEASANTVILLE, N.J. -- The head coach of a middle school basketball team who presented a "Crybaby Award" trophy to a 13-year-old player at a sports banquet may have lost his job over it.

The Pleasantville Board of Education voted Tuesday night to fire Pleasantville Middle School coach James Guillen, but the Board's own attorney questioned whether the vote was legal.

Guillen, 24, a special education teacher at the school who was in his first year as basketball coach, has told school officials the award was his idea and that two other coaches didn't know about it in advance.

Just prior to the April 24 banquet at the Pleasantville Recreation Center, Guillen called him to be sure to attend the event to pick up his special trophy, according to the boy's father, Terrence Philo Sr.

He wasn't told what the trophy signified.

At the event, the boy watched as all of his teammates received trophies or certificates. He was then called up to receive his award, and a coach told the crowd that the boy was being honored because "he begged to get in the game, and all he did was whine."

The trophy consisted of a silver figure of a baby atop a pedestal engraved with the boy's name, which was spelled incorrectly. Family members said the teen _ an honor roll student _ was so embarrassed that he stayed home from school on the following Monday.

"It's an awful thing to have done to a teenager, just totally uncalled for," said Michael Popkin, a family therapist and author based in Atlanta. "One of the harshest things you can do to a kid is to publicly humiliate them. It's bad enough putting him down one on one, away from the team. To set him up like that and then cut his knees out in public is a huge blow."

Schools Superintendent Edwin Coyle said Guillen's punishment could range from a severe reprimand to dismissal from his teaching job.

"It's totally unacceptable. It's not the way to treat young athletes or students," said Coyle.

Coyle recommended a five-day suspension without pay, sensitivity training and a yearlong ban from extracurricular activities for Guillen.

The nine-member board voted to fire him instead, even though Board attorney Damon Tyner said the vote wasn't binding because only the superintendent had the power to hire and fire.

Asked if Guillen had been fired, Board President Jerome Page said: "The motion passed."

The boy and his father were present for the vote, which came after a 2{-hour closed-door session. They did not speak to reporters afterward, although an attorney representing the father questioned whether the Board had the authority to fire Guillen.

"He has collective bargaining rights, he has due process rights," said the attorney, Jonathan Diego.

Pleasantville teachers union president Jean Hovey said the coach didn't deserve termination.

"Nobody should have a promising teaching career shot down by an obvious bad taste of judgment. To go as far as they're going? That's unconscionable," said Hovey, president of the Pleasantville Education Association.

Guillen's record in three years as a Pleasantville Middle School teacher is satisfactory, he said.

Coyle said the coach had received a Crybaby Award as a teenager while playing in a summer recreation league and that it was meant to recognize athletic ability, leadership skills and vocal participation.

He wanted to honor Philo, who was a starter for most of the season on a team that won its league championship, not ridicule him, according to Coyle.

"The award was given without malice, but it did backfire," Coyle said.

Guillen later called the boy to tell him he should not be upset about the award, noting that he had received similar treatment when he was young, the father said.

But Philo said the award had caused his son to lose some of his passion for sports.

"He doesn't even want to play outside (now)," Philo told The Press of Atlantic City newspaper, adding that while his son may be short, he never backs down from a challenge. "I just keep telling him to stay on track. I keep him active. I just keep telling him, 'You're a good kid. Don't back down."'

Whether the boy suffers permanent harm from the humiliation depends on how strong he is emotionally and how much his friends, family and teammates support him, Popkin said.

Guillen, who makes $1,846 a year as coach, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Coyle, who spoke to him Tuesday, said Guillen was feeling "a lot of stress."

"He thought he was doing something in a positive way," Coyle said.