MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Controversy in a youth gymnastics program has the Moon Township community demanding answers.
A meeting was held Monday night about the Moon Township Gymnastics team and its coaches.
The meeting lasted for two hours. It was standing room only and there were so many people who attended that the line spilled out of the door.
11 News has learned a male coach was suspended after a school board member reportedly retaliated after the coaches wouldn’t allow her daughter to be on the team since she wouldn’t be able to attend required practices.
Board member Crystal Barr was specifically called out by many parents who spoke Monday night. The parents say Barr was successful at getting one of the coaches suspended by circulating screenshots of photos on social media.
“Ms. Barr has located pictures of Nick Price, a respected youth coach of 15 plus years as well as a PIAA official on Instagram,” said Diana Scally. “These pictures of Mr. Price’s personal life were not posted by Mr. Price. After the pictures were reviewed by the school board superintendent, Coach Caprino was instructed that the gymnastics program and her varsity coaching position would not be approved until Mr. Price was suspended.”
“You all are laughing. But you’re all saying stuff about Ms. Barr. I haven’t seen proof. I’ve asked for proof and I was not given proof,” one woman said in Barr’s defense.
“Somebody said there’s no proof. Well, you want to see the proof?” said Nicole Daugherty, a gymnastics parent. “All the pictures being sent around have Crystal Barr’s profile picture in the bottom right corner. She took the screenshot and is sending it around.”
Board members were chiming in, as well as community members.
“A lot of this response to me is just an overreaction to us saying, ‘Hey, we’d like to know a little bit more about what’s going on here,’” one board member said.
“We all know that this is about. Everyone knows what it’s about. It’s about pictures, it’s about allegations. The problem is it’s also about district policy,” another woman said.
The parents want several measures to take place, but the most important one they say is to get that suspended coach back.
“He’s just one of us. He’s our family. There’s no reason, no reason to take him out,” she said.
The board didn’t make an official comment, but said they would take all comments from the meeting into consideration.
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