rooney fired

socalogo.gif (8739 bytes)
SoCalHoops High School News

Outrageous: Alemany H.S.
AD Rooney Fired--(Sept. 1, 1999)

Talk about going from bad to worse: Saturday's edition of the Los Angeles Times carried a story that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles had placed Alemany High's Athletic Director Dudley Rooney on "paid administrative leave" in the wake of the disclosure that Darryl McDonald, former basketball coach, was a convicted sex offender.

But according today's LA Times, Rooney told Eric Sondheimer, a Times staff writer and sports reporter yesterday that he was fired Tuesday by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for his role in the hiring of former boys' basketball coach Darryl McDonald. Rooney said he received a letter of dismissal.

McDonald's contract was "not renewed" after it was discovered late in July that he is a registered sex offender. Under state law, schools are required to conduct a fingerprint background check on all prospective employees. But the Archdiocese has been unable to find a record that Alemany followed procedure before McDonald's hiring. Rooney was the administrator entrusted with collecting McDonald's fingerprints.

Rooney said he has filed a grievance with the Archdiocese. Teachers and coaches were informed of Rooney's dismissal Monday, but no announcement was made to students or parents. Rev. Gregory Coiro, the same spokesman for the Archdiocese who last week said Rooney was on administrative leave, confirmed Rooney's dismissal but declined further comment.

Rooney was a softball coach at Alemany for 17 years and a teacher for 22 years at the school, which is located in the northern end of the San Fernando Valley in Mission Hills. "I don't know anybody who has more integrity than Dudley Rooney," Melissa Hearlihy, girls' basketball coach told Eric Sondheimer of the LA Times.

McDonald, who guided Alemany to the Mission League co-championship in his only season as coach, was convicted in 1989 of oral copulation with a minor. He was hired as a youth director by the North Valley YMCA in 1994 after the fingerprints he submitted did not reveal a criminal conviction. A state official said in July that McDonald had dodged detection by submitting someone else's fingerprints. According to articles previously published in both the LA Times and the Daily News, there is still an on-going investigation into McDonald's activities, including whether he should be further prosecuted for submitting someone else's fingerprints in connection with the criminal background check, whether he violated any state laws in failing to disclose his prior convictions, whether he violated the State's sex-registration laws when he failed to disclose that he was working at the YMCA and Alemany with children, and finally, whether any of these activities also constituted a violation of the terms of any probation.

In response to the firing, Eric Sondheimer also wrote a short opinion piece. We agree wholeheartedly with it. It is reproduced verbatim below, but if you want to read more, be sure to check out the LA Times online, or visit their archives for further background on the continuing McDonald story:

Rooney Doesn't Deserve Dismissal for Oversight

By ERIC SONDHEIMER, Times Staff Writer

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has made a foolish, outrageous decision by firing Dudley Rooney of Alemany High for the embarrassing disclosure that a
registered sex offender coached at the Mission Hills campus last school year. Rooney, Alemany's longtime athletic director, has become the scapegoat for the hiring of former boys' basketball coach Darryl McDonald, who was convicted in 1989 for oral copulation with a minor. Anyone close to Alemany knows it was the former principal, Rev. Robert Milbauer, who made the decision to hire McDonald, at the urging of several influential parents.

McDonald was not Rooney's choice. But he's losing his job because of McDonald's dishonesty and deception. If there was a communication breakdown at Alemany and someone failed to conduct a criminal background check on McDonald, then disciplinary action is appropriate. But even if Rooney is judged responsible for the oversight, firing him defies logic. The Archdiocese is ignoring Rooney's 22 years of dedication and exemplary work as a teacher, coach and administrator at Alemany.

This is a man whose integrity and work ethic should be a model at every Catholic school. The Archdiocese, as always, loves to do things in secret. Neither parents nor students were informed of Rooney's dismissal Tuesday. But now that word has gotten out, it's time for parents, students and alumni to let the Archdiocese know they want Rooney to be reinstated. He doesn't deserve the shabby treatment he has received from his employer.