It has come to my attention that there are several adults in Carle Place that, once again, have shown their complete lack of understanding, maturity, and humanity in their attempt to discredit me as an athletic director and as a person who has dedicated his life to the Carle Place School District. This is just the latest incident that challenges my integrity and professional judgment and has prompted me to strike back.

Please understand that there are only a few adults in our community that are capable of such ridiculous and unfounded remarks, but since they lack the honesty and maturity to confront me directly, I feel it is my right to challenge them to step forward and ask the appropriate questions, prior to their making assumptions and spreading false rumors and accusations.

The latest rumor to circulate back to me involves my failure to secure a coach bus for our baseball team to travel to Rome, New York for the state semifinals. The fact is that both your athletic director and the Section VIII baseball coordinator (a Carle Place graduate) did their job in a timely manner. The day prior to leaving for Rome, I left my office at 5:30 p.m. knowing that we had a coach bus but still was awaiting the driver's abstract which reveals his or her driving record. The coach bus company that supplies our county (Section VIII) with transportation deals directly with the Section VIII office. I was never told that we were getting an air-conditioned school bus. Nevertheless, there were only four coach buses available to Section VIII for softball, lacrosse, and baseball and seven buses were needed. The girls' softball team from Baldwin traveling to Buffalo, NY, the boys' baseball team from Massapequa traveling to Utica, and Carle Place's baseball team playing in Rome (west of Utica), were all assigned air-conditioned BOCES school buses. All three schools, as well as the Section VIII coordinator for baseball, lodged official complaints to the Section VIII office. The fact remains that we still needed to get to Rome, New York, and that no one at Carle Place High School knew that we were getting a school bus until 7 a.m. on Friday morning. Now those are the facts! (Note: See Newsday's June 15 edition, Sports Section, "The Long Way to Utica" by Gregg Sarra.)

This latest ill-founded rumor that "Mr. Colligan only cares about basketball and that he made sure that his team had a coach bus this past season" is just the latest in a series of hurtful comments that come back to my office all too frequently. I have tried to disregard them in the past but find this latest accusation to be worthy of a response. It basically insinuates that I have no regard for the safety and welfare of all our student-athletes. All I can say, is that you are fortunate to have an athletic department that does its best to support all of its programs. I wonder if the adults spreading these rumors took the time to go to all the playoff games that both Mr. Ceccoli and I attended? You obviously were not in Rome, to support our team. It's time to ask the appropriate questions of those individuals that hold administrative positions and that have demonstrated sound judgment in the past. I do believe that our Athletic Department has earned your respect. "Let's all exercise good sportsmanship and learn to respect the people who do make a difference in the lives of your children."

Jim Colligan, Athletic Director