By ROBERT E. SMITH

C-S-E News Staff

ST. JOHNSVILLE — Officially, the St. Johnsville Central School District lacks a drama department but recent events involving the disputed use of the district’s athletic facilities by the New York Valley Bombers (NYVB) winter basketball teams and meddling by the district’s athletic Director, Jason Brundage, and school board President, Chris Mosher, are filling the gap nicely.

On December 22, 2011, the NYVB submitted a Request for Use of School Facilities by Outside Groups application form to the St. Johnsville Central School District office. The application included dates of use, an insurance certificate, and the names of supervisory personnel.

On January 3, the application was signed and approved by both the building administrator, high school Principal Greg Sova and deputy Superintendent Laura Campione.

On January 4, the district provided a group representative with two electronic swipe keys and on Sunday, January 8, the first of six Sunday afternoon practices was held. Nine days later, on January 12, Campione issued a letter rescinding permission to use the building, effective immediately. Campione gave no explanation for the action but NYVB officials allege that the cancellation is due to one person, Jason Brundage. “By going directly to the administration we hoped to avoid Brundage and the conflicts we have had with him in the past,” observed Robert Failing, III, owner of Dare to Dream Fitness, who submitted the paperwork.

The abrupt cancellation by the deputy Superintendent has left the NYVB scrambling to find suitable practice space for their three basketball teams. Last weekend found them practicing at the St. Johnsville Youth Center on Saturday morning and at the Little Falls YMCA on Sunday afternoon.

The NYVB, formerly the Mohawk Valley Junior Express, came into being last summer as a traveling baseball team. They played 18 of their 26 games in St. Johnsville using the Soldiers and Sailors ball field in front of the Fowler grandstand.

In December, they organized three basketball teams basically to keep players in shape for baseball season, but also to promote greater depth in skill training for both sports. “Our players were being approached by other out of the area teams and we felt we could offer something here that would benefit our school athletes and community businesses,” said Failing.

The response has been great. The group has 30 players on the basketball teams, 36 players on the baseball teams, 13 of which are crossovers playing both sports. The program draws students from the Canajoharie, Fort Plain, St. Johnsville, Little Falls, Herkimer, West Canada Valley, Cooperstown, New Hartford, New York Mills and Notre Dame school districts. “Our practices are closed; parents either go shop in one of our businesses or eat in one of our restaurants,” noted Ed Smith, NYVB general manager.

Sounds like a plan to benefit everyone except the St. Johnsville district’s mercurial athletic director, Brundage. “This is the second year we are doing this; we didn’t think there would be a problem with the school facilities. We pay taxes here; our kids go to this school. We are just looking to help all the kids get better, even the younger kids that will play here when our kids are gone. The problem is we have two guys in this town, Jason Brundage and Chris Mosher, who are determined to hurt us. They’re a little clique with big voices who have to have their foot in every door. With Brundage, parents don’t want to stand up to him because they fear he will retaliate against their kids,” said Paul Johnson, parent of an eighth grader in the program.

NYVB president Tom Klock concurs, stating, “With this program, I feel we have done everything possible to keep the kids in St. Johnsville. This is where we started and this is where we would like to stay but I feel like we are getting pushed away, especially with the number of St. Johnsville students we are serving. This is high-talent baseball and basketball; we take every kid we have here and we have them playing, even kids that don’t have potential for this year we have them playing to build the program for next year. They (Brundage and Mosher) just don’t seem to get it; this is helping their varsity baseball and basketball program.”

Brundage was singled out last year for unfit conduct as a Little League coach in a C-S-E letter to the editor written by Stacy Ellerby, who wrote, “Brundage is only interested in one goal — winning. On his Little League team, you are either a winner or a loser. My son was singled out as a loser.” Brundage did return a phone call from the C-S-E seeking his side of the story, but he refused to answer any questions regarding his role as St. Johnsville high school athletic director in the NYVB dispute.

Ralph Acquaro, Superintendent of the St. Johnsville Central school district, gave the order for Campione to ground the NYVB program citing purely procedural reasons. In an e-mail to the C-S-E, Acquaro stated (in part), “If it were simply a matter of St. Johnsville students being coached by a staff member for a recreation program, it would not have been an issue. However, no proposal was provided to me, the sponsors did not speak with me and information about who would be supervising students and taking responsibility for the building was in flux. Based on those reasons, I put the use on hold, asked for complete information and wanted to discuss this with the BOE (Board of Education).” But Acquaro seems in no hurry to resolve the problem and accommodate the NYVB. He stated would not take up the issue with the BOE until their meeting on January 26, at 7 p.m.

A review of the Request for Use application indicates that the NYVB would use the high school gym for practice, lists the six Sundays requested (January 8 through February 19) and states the hours, states that no equipment would be needed, names Robert Failing, Ed Smith, Eric Hubbell and head coaches as supervisors present during the practices and provided an insurance certificate. No mention of a required BOE review is stated on the application.

By telephone, Acquaro, enjoying a well-deserved vacation in Florida, summed up the mess he is returning to. “Unfortunately, everybody thought this was routine and nobody touched base with me. Sometimes you have to do things the right way and in the process one gets all of the information,” stated Acquaro.

A procedural problem? Perhaps. Parents like Connie Grant and Darren Lynch would like Acquaro to sit down Brundage down with NYVB officials and work out a solution to the problem immediately, especially Brundage’s refusal to let his students practice with or play for the NYVB. But there is no shortage of parents who see this as a continuation of the Jason Brundage drama and hysterics which have cost the district good athletic players in the past. Two parents who have pulled their children from St. Johnsville because of Brundage are Ed Smith and Cherrie Fox. “Jason plays favorites; he cherry-picks kids he likes and works with them, the rest don’t stand a chance. My kids have excelled in the Little Falls athletic and academic program since we moved them out of St. Johnsville. The facilities are amazing and the coaches encourage every student,” said Smith.

Fox, who grew up in St. Johnsville, spoke as a peer of Brundage and as a parent. “Jason will never grow up. I find it disappointing that so many parents come to feel that their children are not treated fairly by Jason and, like me, choose to leave the district. The NYVB program is a positive force in a community that has very little; it’s sad that some people have to sabotage it,” said Fox.