Sandwich school promises lasting change after explicit app comments

During the Sandwich School Board meeting on May 22, Heather Viola’s voice trembled as she recalled the emotional anguish her children had endured.

On May 2, freshman and sophomore baseball players at Sandwich Middle High School uploaded derogatory and sexually explicit comments about the twins — one of whom is autistic — to a social media application.

She said school officials failed her family by refusing to classify the incident, which occurred on the bus ride home from a baseball game, as bullying.

“Our children’s mental health is deteriorating. We can’t just accept this. I’m not going to stand by and watch this happen to another child,” said Viola. Her son was a baseball player on the school’s freshman team.

The Sandwich School Board suspended both the freshman and junior baseball seasons after Heather and her husband Victor “VJ” Viola reported the incident to school administrators and Sandwich Police.

According to the policy, bullying and cyberbullying must occur three times before the school takes comprehensive disciplinary action.

More than three children were involved in the incident, and more than three comments were made about her two children on Exposed, a Google Play media app, Heather Viola said.

“It only takes one comment and one incident for a child to commit suicide – not three,” she said.

Jim Lehane of Sandwich, who also attended the meeting, said that with the end of the school year approaching, Superintendent Joseph Maruszczak, the school administration and the committee need to be held accountable for consistently continuing their education and anti-bullying efforts.

“Three times? For something as heinous as what we heard tonight?” Lehane said. “So these particular bullies have two more attempts before action can be taken under the Anti-Bullying Act? That’s crazy.”

Jim Dever, another Sandwich resident, said students and school administrators need to be taught dignity and respect.

“The school system must, without a doubt, guarantee our students a place where they can thrive, be happy and be successful,” Dever said. “We have failed. And it makes me sad that this has happened.”

Maruszczak said he would not discuss specific disciplinary measures, but called Viola’s statements during the committee meeting “heartbreaking.”

“Let me be clear. This is not going to die when the two weeks of school are over,” Maruszczak said. “There is an incredible amount of work that needs to be done with a group of students. I and the school administration have a huge commitment to working with this group of students.”

The Cape & Islands District Attorney’s Office said Monday that it was aware of the incident. The prosecutor’s office has requested all police reports related to the incident from Sandwich police, said Danielle Whitney, the district attorney’s office’s director of community programs and public information. Whitney declined further comment.

Follow-up with coaching staff and parents is missing

Victor Viola shared his family’s perspective on the incident in a social media post on May 18. He did so, Heather Viola said during the meeting, because parents of the team’s players were upset about their children missing the final two weeks of baseball. The parents, she said, were not informed by the school about the incidents between the players.

Coaches like junior varsity coach Steven Ring also weren’t kept in the loop, Heather Viola said.

The Violas met with Principal Jeanne Nelson, Assistant Principal David Aycock, Athletics Administrator Sean Donovan, varsity head coach Brian Murray, social worker Susan Coutinho and police officer Mark Peterson on May 15 to discuss the incident, Heather Viola said.

The seven people, including Ring, did not respond to emails from The Times seeking comment.

Heather Viola said she brought up the incident in conversation with Ring. “And he had no idea.”

A lack of communication among school staff resulted in her son being placed in the dugout with the rest of the team during the last game before the baseball season was canceled, Viola said.

Her two children, she said, feared retaliation from the players involved in the incident.

“None of my kids wanted to go to school or sports. My daughter said she was embarrassed walking down the hallway because the boys looked at her differently. People stared at her and she was embarrassed by what these boys said to her,” Heather Viola said.

Victor Viola told the Times he also recently spoke with school board member Kevin Sareault after hearing Sareault had spoken to a private group about the incident.

His goal, Victor Viola said, is to hold people accountable and to educate children, coaches and all school staff about the seriousness of the situation so that something like this does not happen again.

Sareault did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.

How will the community move forward?

Victor Viola told the Times that he and his wife, along with Nelson and a lawyer, met with Maruszczak on Wednesday.

“We have begun conversations to update policies, education and student support to include, but not limited to, bullying, cyberbullying, hazing and harassment,” Victor Viola said in an email sent to the Times on Friday. “We have also reached out to several local athletic programs to update their policies on these issues.”

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