Parent bashes board, superintendent for coach's alleged conduct

ELIDA — An Elida parent who said head football Coach Jason Carpenter made an inappropriate comment and gesture to her son called for the resignation of the superintendent and three board members Tuesday.The coach and Superintendent Don Diglia said there is no truth to Kimbra Maag's accusations. And the Allen County Sheriff's Office investigation came to the same conclusion.“I am absolutely appalled that Elida schools has accepted this type of behavior from their staff,” Maag said at Tuesday's board organizational meeting.Maag's son is Brandon Maag, one of the four Elida High School students to rob a pizza deliveryman in November 2010. The teenagers pulled a gun and ordered the pizza deliveryman to drop the food. The gun was later found to be an Airsoft gun made to appear like a real gun. Maag was sentenced to the local treatment facility.Maag said that in March, while Brandon was face down stretching in the weight room, Carpenter straddled him, made a humping motion and asked if “this is what big Bubba did” to him while in the juvenile detention center.Maag said she found out about the incident from other parents in October. She filed a report with the Sheriff's Office and Prosecutor's Office. The Lima News previously looked into the claim and was told by the Sheriff's Office that the complaint was invalid.“None of it is true,” Carpenter said. “I think this is her way of being upset with me that her son could not play at Elida this year.”Board policy banned the boys from participating in athletics for a year. Maag was permitted to lift weights and be around the team.“It saddens me that as much as we care for Brandon that this is coming up,” Carpenter said. Maag also said that after her son apologized for the robbery to Carpenter, the coach sent a return text message saying, “Way to f--- up the football program.”Maag said she has taken her complaints to the board and Diglia and has not gotten anywhere.“I feel by Mr. Diglia and the current board members, with the exception of Brian Anders and Brad Settlage, not acting on this is the same as condoning such acts and in doing so sets a bad example for the students and staff they represent,” she said.Diglia said he investigated, including talking to Brandon, a witness, Carpenter and an assistant coach and found no basis to the complaint. Diglia praised Carpenter for helping Maag in math when he came back to school and for wanting him to continue to be as much a part of the team as possible even though he was ineligible. “I commend our staff for working with those kids when they came back,” he said. “What we are trying to do is help kids, even kids who make mistakes. He made a mistake and we are trying to help him. That is what we do.”