District to pay $2,000 for claim against coach

CANTON — The Ogdensburg City School District has agreed to pay $2,000 to settle a complaint claiming a basketball coach grabbed a player and pinned him to the bleachers during a game last year.

A notice of claim was filed in April by Mary Carmody, on behalf of Zachary Main, against the school district, the Board of Education, Superintendent Timothy M. Vernsey, Athletic Director Anthony Bjork and basketball coach Michael Sargent, according to St. Lawrence County clerk's office records. No lawsuit was ever filed.

Mr. Sargent, the junior varsity boys basketball coach, was accused of grabbing Zachary and pinning him to the bleachers during a Jan. 2, 2009, game at Heuvelton Central School.

The coach pulled Zachary from a game against Heuvelton and allegedly yelled at him to "sit down" on the bench, according to the notice of claim. Zachary, then a sophomore at Ogdensburg Free Academy, couldn't find a seat, so he asked a few teammates to slide down to make room for him.

Before he could sit down, the coach reportedly grabbed his jersey and knocked him down and pinned him to the bleachers.

Ms. Carmody, sitting nearby, told the coach to let him up and he did. Zachary then was suspended from the team.

A few days later, he was kicked off the basketball team after meeting with the coach and athletic director.

Zachary later was reinstated to the team after Ms. Carmody complained to school administrators, court documents indicate.

Junior varsity girls basketball coach Jeff Howlett, whom the district interviewed only during the initial investigation, gave testimony that "absolved respondent coach of all wrongdoing and placed the blame for the incident on Zachary," according to clerk's records.

A further inquiry later affirmed Zachary's story after district officials talked with several witnesses who attended the game.

The settlement says Mr. Sargent received counseling for the incident and a "write-up" was placed in his personnel file.

The settlement doesn't cover Ms. Carmody's legal expenses, totaling about $2,986.

School attorney Andrew W. Silver, Canton, and Stephen Ciotoli of the Fayetteville law firm of O'Hara, O'Connell & Ciotoli, representing Ms. Carmody, didn't return calls for comment Wednesday.

"The settlement agreement is neither an admission nor a finding of wrongdoing," the settlement says.