Reassignment of beloved high school coach angers parents
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - An upset crowd filled New Rochelle's Board of Education office demanding answers as to why beloved high school football coach Lou DiRienzo was abruptly stripped of those duties and reassigned Wednesday.
This happened soon after school officials say they were notified of an incident that took place on campus earlier this week.
"I won't talk about necessarily what happened before but I think when you're in a circumstance where you're reassigning someone, that's a significant piece of information that should be shared with the community," Superintendent Laura Feijoo said. "And just the reassignment makes it serious."
What Feijo would not say, some angry parents did.
The New Rochelle Football Parent Association put out this tweet: "Coach D helped a student in distress to leave school with her parent. Instead of quietly investigating the issue, as has forever been the practice at NRHS, Superintendent Feijoo chose to defame our coach and suspend him from teaching and coaching—and announce that fact to the world as though he was a criminal."
The superintendent did say that DiRienzo's offense was not criminal but was a violation of protocol, which upset supporters of the local Hall of Fame and New York State title-winning coach even more so.
DiRienzo's reassignment means he will be unable to coach in Saturday's semifinal game. If the team wins, they are only two games away from possibly another state title.
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