A shocking email written last year by the athletic director at the elite Bronx High School of Science reveals that a sick culture of hazing and sexual abuse has existed on the track team for years.
The athletic director, Marion Dietrich, was suspended from her coaching job Tuesday along with two track coaches in the wake of the hazing scandal that saw three student athletes arrested and charged with forcible touching, endangering an incompetent person and hazing — all on school grounds.
The scandal has rocked one of the city’s top public schools, but the email from Dietrich reveals that school officials have known about the behavior for at least three years and that bullying students had gotten so out of hand that Dietrich assigned coaches to patrol the boys’ locker room.
“Hello, coaches,” Dietrich wrote in the March 2012 email that was addressed to 10 coaches and administrators, including principal Valerie Reidy.
“You might have heard about an incident, that took place 2 yrs ago, in the boys locker room,” she wrote. “The principal found out about it last Friday and is very concerned about the students’ safety during the changing periods. A student’s genitals were touched from an athlete on the track team.”
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Dietrich sent the email outlining a plan to monitor changing areas after a student was sexually assaulted by a classmate.
The memo added, “This very student has been in therapy ever since. We have to be aware that we do have children from a variety of ethnic backrounds and believe systems in our school and that what is ok for some students is not neccessarily ok for others.”
Dietrich then outlined a schedule for coaches to watch the locker room — one coach was assigned to each day of the week — and advised the coaches to make themselves comfortable in the boys’ changing area.
“In order to not to make it too uncomfortable on your part, I suggest that you go in and out the locker room on a regular basis, to ‘show your face’ and make sure that the locker room is locked when the last athlete is out!” she wrote.
Education officials are investigating the letter and the previous hazing incidents it describes.
CBS2
Piers Berkmans, left, and Thomas Brady, right, Wolverines, have been charged with bullying a 15-year-old freshman.
A coach at the school who asked to remain anonymous said the patrol was discontinued in September.
“Last year, there were teachers assigned to the locker room,” the coach said. “But I don’t know why it wasn’t done this year.”
It was rumored that the locker rooms went unguarded because the coaches didn’t want to spend the time — and Reidy refused to hire an aide to do it, the coach said.
Reidy did not respond to requests for comment.
On Feb. 27, three Wolverines, Thomas Brady, Boubacar Diallo and Piers Berkmans, were arrested and charged with having bullied a 15-year-old freshman since December.
Excerpts of email written by Bronx High School of Science athletic director Marion Dietrich and sent to coaches.
“You need a good fingering, you freshman,” Diallo, 16, said before he used his finger to sodomize the teen through his shorts while he was held down, a criminal complaint said.
In a separate incident, Berkmans, 17, said to the freshman, “Touch my penis for three seconds or I will rape you,” according to the complaint.
When the younger boy refused, Berkmans bent him over and pressed his crotch into the teen’s backside through his pants, the report said.
The three accused teens were released on their own recognizance. Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said Tuesday that the students were receiving instruction at another school pending disciplinary action.
SUSAN WATTS/ NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Off-the-field hazing at Bronx High School of Science landed a troubled student in therapy.
“We take these allegations seriously and will be looking at the details of the investigation closely,” Walcott said.
Mayor Bloomberg called the allegations “despicable.”
The bullies’ victim was still in school, students said.
“At lunch, he just seemed to joke about it,” said a friend of the victim who asked to remain anonymous. “He just laughed. I don’t know how he’s coping. He just tried to avoid conversation about it.”
The News was unable to reach the two suspended track coaches, Aisha Bruce and Cesar Gracia.
SUSAN WATTS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
The school is among the city's best in athletics and education.
Reached on her cell phone, Dietrich was tight-lipped about the scandal unfolding at her school.
“I will not make any comment. I’m sorry,” she said.
With Frank Miller, Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, Tina Moore and Corinne Lestch
bchapman@nydailynews.com
READ FULL EMAIL SENT BY DIETRICH BELOW:
Hello coaches,
You might have heard about an incident, that took place 2 yrs ago, in the boys locker room. The principal found out about it last Friday and is very concerned about the students' safety during the changing periods. A student's genitals were touched from an athlete on the track team (last year senior), when he came back from SGI and the athletes were already changing. This very student has been in therapy ever since. We have to be aware that we do have children from a variety of ethnic backrounds and believe systems in our school and that what is ok for some students is not neccessarily ok for others. Therefore, in order to avoid a similar situation, I need your cooperation in supervising the boys locker room after SGI, during the changing period for athletes.
I came up with a weekly rotation system, where everyone of you is responsible for one day 'locker room duty'. I know all of you want to get out after SGI and go and start practice, but I don't think that staying another 10-15 mintutes once a week hurts. If you have a game on a particular day, please switch your locker room duty with a coach, who can stay.
In order to not to make it too uncomfortable on your part, I suggest that you go in and out the locker room on a regular basis, to 'show your face' and make sure that the locker room is locked when the last athlete is out!
Here is my proposed weekly locker room duty:
Monday - [Name redacted]
Tuesday - [Name redacted]
Wednesday - [Name redacted]
Thursday - [Name redacted]
Friday - [Name redacted]
If you would like to switch a day, please let me know. Also, if you have any other idea on how to solve this problem, please don't hesitate to talk to me...
We also cannot allow students, who are late or forgot to change, back into the locker room unsupervised, because these are the very students, who open the doors for other students. On the other hand, we have to make sure to clear out the locker room after 9th period and lock it up so that no one can get in there and get dressed. If your team needs to get dressed, because they have to leave for a game, you have to stay with them and supervise them!
Thank you for your understanding and have a sunny day,
Marion
_________________________________________________________
Marion Dietrich, A.D.
Bronx HS of Science
75 W 205th Street, Bronx, NY 10463
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/email-shows-history-bronx-science-hazing-article-1.1280566#ixzz2X94O04vf
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