NISKAYUNA – A dispute unfolding in Niskayuna involves a high school principal, pro athletes, a novel and the threat of a lawsuit. There’s a special school board meeting Thursday night, and the public is invited to hear everything out.
The controversy all started in June, when Tom Swyers, a native of Niskayuna, published a book called “Saving Babe Ruth”. It’s a work of fiction based on a true story, according to Swyers, but it’s one of the characters in the book that is causing the controversy.
Swyers says he received a call this summer from Niskayuna High School principal John Rickert. He says Rickert followed up that phone call with an e-mail threatening legal action. The reason? In “Saving Babe Ruth”, there is a character named Jerry Conway who is a sports agent. Conway is also a high school principal, and not a good one at that.
Rickert is also a high school principal and a pro sports agent.
After Swyers says Rickert threatened him with legal action, he put up a blog post calling into question Rickert’s job as principal in regards to college acceptance rates for students from Niskayuna High School. Swyers says data from the website Naviance shows a 20 percent decline in admissions to 30 popular colleges between two different three-year periods -- 2007 to 2010 and 2011 to 2014.
Swyers attributes this drop to Rickert’s dueling jobs as principal and sports agent. Rickert has been principal of Niskayuna High School since 2001.
Interim District Superintendent John Yagielski has called a special board meeting to discuss the issue Thursday night. Yagielski says he will present data from colleges themselves that show a higher admissions rate for the district than Naviance does. Naviance relies on self-reporting by students for its data.
Rickert will also have a chance to address the board at the meeting. The special board meeting starts at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Van Antwerp Middle School auditorium and is open to the public. However, there will not be a public comment portion for the meeting. |
Logged
