It will be a very Merry Christmas for Michael Reyes.
The Gorton senior basketball player learned last night that the state overturned Section 1’s ruling to prohibit Reyes from playing this season. Reyes, a 5-foot-8 point guard, was deemed ineligible because he violated transfer rules when leaving Yonkers last Spring for Gorton.
Reyes appealed twice to Section 1 but was denied each time. It wasn’t until this week when Yonkers superintendent Bernard Pierorazio went up to Albany on Reyes’ behalf and convinced the NYSPHSAA that his transfer was for academic purposes, not athletic. Dr. Ronald Black of the state committee overturned the decision.
All the credit on this should go to Pierorazio. It’s not often a superintendent of a school district as large as Yonkers will go to bat for an athlete. He spoke for an hour at a meeting on Monday. Reyes owes him greatly.
Reyes should be cleared to play in games immediately. Gorton has only played three so far. Next up is the County Center against Kennedy on Tuesday. Not a bad way to make a return.
54 Comments
Chris Ray,
Are you defending the illegal actions of Jen Simmons? The Reyes student met the “legal” guidelines to transfer at least twice which is why Jen Simmons was overruled by New York State. The unlawful position for her and Section 1 to punish a student for wanting more than a basic education is a losing argument. Under the law, every child is entitled to purse more than a basic education and every child has the legal right to pursue higher level courses without punishment. Arguing that her job is difficult is foolish; it is not hard to follow the law. This is why there needs to be an investigation of Jen Simmons and Section 1.
I want to Thank our faithful SW BOCES employee, Christian Ray, for joining our discussion, for looking out for his job and for throwing all his former bosses under the bus. We cannot just fault him for pointing out just how narrow-minded this organization has been throughout this entire case. After all, his boss was the one who made the Reyes Family miserable for the last three weeks. Perhaps he had a vested interest in the outcome of the Reyes case and he’s now going back to Mrs. Simmons with all the feedback being posted on this blog. When you’re done reading this, just wipe off your nose, that brown stuff smells!
When he stated:
“Jen has a difficult job to do and does it very well. I’ve been an employee of SW BOCES Section 1 for 13 years and have been through 4 directors. Jen is BY FAR the best director we’ve had.”
Boy! I bet he probably said similarly nice things about every other director he ever worked for in the past 13 years (Greg Ransom was the best we’ve ever had here at SW BOCES), but since they’re all retired and gone forever, it’s okay to throw them under the bus….they can’t hurt him in any way.
I agree that the job is difficult but, she obviously lacks the experience and interpersonal skills to do the job right! In case you have not heard, everyone who has dealt with her in the past two years (and throughout her career at Wappingers Falls CSD) feels the same way as I do,but they are all afraid to say it to her face because they know just how vindictive she is. Just ask all those coaches who were intimidated by her whenever they didn’t play her children much during soccer and basketball games or were let go totally after years of coaching in that school district. Or the referees that she constantly talks down to.
You are such a honorable guy…..sticking up for your current boss and all….maybe, if she doesn’t get fired and sued after this last fiasco, she might just decide to keep you around while most of your current peers at SW BOCES get the PINK SLIP. That’s the way to look out for number one!
SW BOCES Athletics Dept. has always been a waste of the taxpayers money for a long time now and your days are numbered . By you coming onto this forum and expressing yourself the way you did, you showed a lack of class and credibility by continuing to support an individual who is in over her head at a job she was not qualifified to do.
“SW BOCES athletic dept. has always been a waste of taxpayers money” I wish you’d come into our office and see what it’s like the day after a snow day or a rainy day when we have to reassign hundreds of contests. But you don’t even have enough nerve to identify yourself on this blog. Jen’s daughter got an athletic scholarship to play soccer. So I doubt she had to “intimidate” any coaches at Wappingers CSD to get her daughter any playing time. As far as me worried about me losing my job goes, I’m one of the most senior people in the office. You can ask your athletic director about my job performance. (Sorry I forgot you’re afraid to identify yourself) I’m sure they’ll give you a positive response. Maybe you’re one of the “Section 1 Coaches” she defeated while she was the coach of the R.C. Ketcham girls basketball team. Envy is a bad trait.
Christian Ray
If Reyes wanted to be in a medical program at Gorton, why didn’t he transfer before his senior year? Funny how it also coincides with Yonkers HS losing all their talent.
I did bring up the fact that Yonkers HS is ranked #41 in the nation and #1 in Westchester County. However, I do not believe that Yonkers HS is better than Scarsdale or any other Northern Westchester School, but it is clearly a better school than Gorton.
I have not seen Reyes play yet for Gorton, but if he is a legit, high level D-III player, he could have got there staying at Yonkers HS.
No one has touched on the real subject here, the one that SWBOCES and the Yonkers AD/ Jim Rose are trying to stop, that they are trying to prevent schools from recruiting. Reyes may influence a few games this year for Gorton. But imgaine if Doug Houge (best player in Yonkers in my opinion) tranferred from Lincoln to Gorton just to go into the medical program. I don’t think we would see the same reactions.