In the wake of the firing of Arcadia High School cross country coach James O'Brien, twelve alumni, students and parents, have joined forces in an intensive effort to recall Arcadia Unified School District Board members Cung Nguyen, Kay Kinsler, and Lori Phillipi. The recall petition is headed by Esmond Wei. One issue is a list of O'Brien's alleged CIF violations that Arcadia High School formally sent to CIF officials. According to Wei, Arcadia High School's principal refused to let O'Brien see the letter. Wei said support for O'Brien is growing. See also p. 8 for related story.
Arcadia High School reported CIF-SS rules violation before firing coach James O'Brien. CIF-SS spokesman Thom Simmons declined to elaborate on the notification. O'Brien's supporters have begun a recall campaign targeting Arcadia Unified School District board members Cung Nguyen, Lori Phillipi, and Kay Kinsler.
Arcadia school board members shed light on the reasons for firing Arcadia High School cross country coach James O'Brien. They wrote an open letter to the Arcadia community that will be published Sunday in this paper as a paid campaign advertisement. The controversy continues.
A message supporting embattled former Arcadia High School cross country coach James O'Brien, sent by a concerned parent named Michael Yamane, was forwarded to the police by a school board member. Yamane's email urged the district to reconsider its firing of O'Brien, accuses district officials of abusing employees, lying about a CIF-SS investigation into O'Brien's program, and suggested officials might be breaking state law. Yamane is concerned about his constitutional right to free speech, after his email was forwarded to police. Yamane is also a proponent of the "Recall Arcadia" campaign, which seeks to recall three school board members.
A video created by three Arcadia High School graduates went viral and brought people to a school board meeting alst week, in support of fired cross country coach James O'Brien. The creators of the video are Esmond Wei, Ben Hsueh, and Sergio Rodriguez. The video was posted on YouTube.com and had more than 10,000 views in three days. A week later, it had more than 16,000 views.
Fired Arcadia High School cross country coach James O'Brien questions reason for dismissal. The Arcadia Unified School District's Board of Education upholds its decision to not reappoint Mr. O'Brien as head coach for the 2013-2014 year. He will continue to teach at Arcadia High School.
A letter from Arcadia High School Principal Brent Forsee to CIF lists recruiting and practice rule violations allegedly committed by fired Arcadia High School cross country coach James O'Brien. Forsee sent the undated letter to the Southern Section offices of the California Interscholastic Federation sometime after firing James O'Brien on June 17.
Letter to CIF-SS detailed fired Arcadia High School coach James O'Brien's alleged rule violations. The violations include "hundreds of instances" of the coach recruiting middle school students, punishments for athletes who did not participate in illegal Sunday practices and an attempt to place illegal flags on a course to gain a competitive advantage. The undated letter, sent by Arcadia High School Principal Brent Forsee to the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section sometime in late June or July, was publicly released for the first time under a Public Records Act request filed with the school district by this newspaper.
Arcadia Unified School District school board refuses to reinstate James O'Brien as the cross country coach. The school board expressed appreciation for all the individuals who shared their perspectives on the Arcadia High School cross country program at the Board of Education meetings. Mr. O'Brien continues to be employed as a teacher at Arcadia High School. Coaching assignments are made on a year-to-year basis.
Arcadia Unified School District's Board of Education took no action to reinstate fired coach James O'Brien as head cross country coach of Arcadia High School.
Arcadia High School coach James O'Brien, who has led the cross country team to two CIF State and three CIF-Southern Section championships, has been fired. He was told the reason was, "We want to go in a different direction." He will remain a teacher at Arcadia High School.
Support grows to reinstate the suddenly fired Arcadia High School boys' cross country coach James O'Brien. He has led the Apaches cross country team to two state and two national titles in the last three years. More than 200 supporters attended the district board of education meeting.
Arcadia Unified School District's Board of Education upholds its decision of having fired cross country coach James O'Brien. There were no details about the reasons of his dismissal.