The Heron's Nest: the Battle of O'Hara

By Phil Heron
The Delaware County Daily Times
November 13, 2013

http://www.delcotimes.com/opinion/20131113/the-herons-nest-the-battle-of-ohara

Phil Heron

This one is going to get ugly.

Marie Rogai is out as the principal at Cardinal O’Hara High School. But she has no intention of going quietly.

After being forced out after three years at the helm of the massive archdiocesan high school on Sproul Road in Springfield on Monday, Rogai decided to fire back.

The she hired a lawyer.

Uh-oh.

Not only is Rogai, who also taught advanced placement Spanish classes at the school, saying she was given no reason for her termination, she is alleging that she was the victim of unwanted advances from a male member of the school advisory board who voted her out.

Meanwhile, the archdiocese is calling the change at the helm a “personnel decision.” Archdiocese spokesman Ken Gavin responded to my blog yesterday and objected to my reference of the reasoning for Rogai’s dismissal as a mystery.

He insisted the move was simply the view of the advisory board that the 1,500 students at the school needed “new leadership.”

Clearly, Rogai does no agree. Yesterday she hired a Philadelphia law firm to take up her cause. No one is comment further but the law firm did redistribute the lengthy emailed letter Rogai sent to the O’Hara community on learning of her firing.

You can read both Rogai’s letter, as well as the letter sent to O’Hara families by Carol Cary, superintendent of Secondary Schools for the Archdiocese, in yesterday’s edition of the Heron’s Nest. Cary maintains the move was made “in the best interest of the school,” after the decision was made that “a change of leadership is necessary at this time.”

Rogai was having none of it in her letter, and laid out her own version of events, starting last Thursday when she says she first learned she was going to be called to a meeting on Friday where her resignation was going to be requested. She intimated she had been branded by the school advisory board as an “ineffective leader” and that the secretary of Catholic education had received “complaints” about her from parents. Now it seems as if neither Rogai nor the archdiocese is talking.

But the public is, and yesterday I heard from both sides, those who believe Rogai is being “railroaded,” and those who agreed that a change was needed and who branded Rogai an “ineffective leader.”

But the issue that is likely to raise the most eyebrows is Rogai’s public allegation that she received “unwelcome physical contact” from a member of the advisory board, that she “not only rebuffed but also repeatedly brought the attention of Bill McCusker.” He is the president of O’Hara.

Tonight there is a meeting of the Cardinal O’Hara Home and School Association. Should be interesting. Why do I get the feeling this one is going to wind up in court?

• ‘Live From the Newsroom’ reviews the Delco elections

Now that all the votes have been counted, it’s time to review the vote.

Our live-stream Internet broadcast, ‘Live From the Newsroom,’ will analyze last week’s Delaware County elections.

Who won? Who lost? And why? We’ll talk about the turnout and was lies ahead in Delco politics.

I’ll be joined by Delaware County Republican Party Chairman Andy Reilly, and former Swarthmore Mayor Rick Lowe, filling in for Dem boss David Landau.

What questions would you like to ask after the elections?

Email them to me at editor@delcotimes.com, or post a comment on my blog.

Then log on to DelcoTimes.com tonight at 7 for our live chat.

We’re talking politics on ‘Live From the Newsroom.’ Why not be part of the conversation?

• I should have stuck with baseball

I knew I should have stuck with my first love. Don’t worry, honey, I’m not leaving you.

When I was a kid, I would play baseball all day. And I was good. Especially in the field. I could really pick it.

Then I grew up.

On the coldest day of this late fall-early winter season, I am once again lamenting I didn’t stick with baseball.

Just once in my life, I’d like to have a day like Marlon Byrd had yesterday.

Byrd, the former Phillie, spent last season split between the New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates. He helped the Bucs reach the playoffs for the first time in eons.

For that he was paid a base salary of $700,000, plus another $100,000 in performance bonuses based on plate appearances.

Yesterday Byrd signed a new deal with the team where he started his career - the Phillies. For $16 million.

That’s not a misprint. That is 16 followed by 6 zeroes. $16,000,000.

Byrd is 36. He hit .291 and drove in 88 runs last year, and also came up big for the Pirates in the playoffs, hitting .364 with a homer and five RBI in six playoff games.

Over his career, he’s been injury-prone. Just a little more than a year ago, he was playing in the Mexican League.

I don’t blame Byrd. I hope he’s got something left in the tank, can stay healthy, and helps the Phillies reverse their fortunes.

But what I really wish is that in my next life I will come back as a professional baseball player. It’s a nice daydream to warm up the first brutally cold day of winter.