"People can certainly criticize — they have that right.””

Superintendent Thomas Aubin

The Town of Westport should do everything it can to ensure that Mr. Pacheco is offered an attractive contract extension. The children of this town deserve it, Jay deserves it, and it will pay itself forward for generations.”

Phil Silvia

Westport Community Schools officials are two or three weeks away from hiring a new athletic director, following the district’s surprise decision last month to part ways with former athletic director Jason Pacheco.

Pacheco, who had served in the role since 2012, was let go shortly before the end of June, when district officials told him his contract would not be renewed. The decision surprised many in the Westport school community, who asked at a school committee meeting Tuesday morning that the district reconsider the decision and re-instate him.

Three finalists

But it does not appear that will happen.

Superintendent Thomas Aubin said Friday afternoon that the district is moving forward and has received 14 applications for the vacant position. That number of candidates has since been reduced to three finalists, and Aubin said a decision on one will be made soon, as time is of the essence — “obviously we have the fall season coming. We’re going to try to do it as soon as we can.”

As for the heat he and members of the school committee have taken from Pacheco’s supporters, Aubin said, “people can certainly criticize — they have that right.”

Beyond that, he declined to talk specifics about Pacheco or the reasons that went into the decision to part ways, citing personnel confidentiality requirements.

Supporters speak out

Some of the public’s criticism came to a head Tuesday morning, when the school committee met on unrelated matters but allowed 20 minutes of comments from the public on the matter. Seven residents, including Pacheco’s spouse, called in and questioned why the district had let the former AD go. They received no answers, as chairwoman Nancy Stanton Cross noted several times that personnel matters are bound by confidentiality requirements.

When her husband received word last month that his services were no longer needed, Janice Pacheco told the committee, “my heart sunk.”

“I don’t understand,” she said. “What did he ever do to anyone? He has done nothing. I’m not just speaking as his wife, I’m speaking for all the students of Westport Community Schools, the staff and the parents. What has happened is a disgrace — I am disturbed, I am angry.”

Before Stanton Cross closed public comment on the matter after 20 minutes, several other residents spoke about the impact they believe Pacheco has had on their lives, and those of their children and players.

“He has really been the heart and soul, a part of the heart and soul, of the community at the middle high school,” parent Jennifer McMahon said.

McMahon relayed a story about Pacheco and the “kindness” he offered her son after he tried out for but missed out on a spot on the basketball team several years ago. After learning that her son didn’t make the team, she said, Pacheco reached out to her and said, ‘Your son, he’s going to have a bright future here.’

Soon after, she said, Pacheco offered her son a position as team manager “so he could do what he wanted to do, which was just play. He saw something in my son (that) allowed him to stay ingrained with the team, and be a part of the team.”

Her son made the team the following year, she said, and she said she is sure for Pacheco’s kindness played a role — “Jay’s offering of that hand helped tremendously” in giving her son the confidence to keep trying and improving his skills, she said.

“There’s a lot of questions,” she said of the district’s decision. “We may never get those answers (but) I would support reinstatement. At a time when we are looking to bring people to Westport, isn’t that the type of person that we want?”

High school basketball coach Scot Boudria also spoke up in support of his boss and friend. In his 20 years as a coach in Westport, he said, he’s seen four athletic directors “and they have all been very good. But Jay has gone above and beyond.”

“He is kind to children, which in my eyes is the most important thing you can do as an athletic director,” Boudria said. In addition, “he is kind to me as a coach, he is very supportive of me. He’s a friend, he’s a boss and he lets you know when you do things wrong, but he’s a friend and he is highly supportive.”

Phil Silvia, who has known Pacheco for years, said he was “bewildered” by the district’s decision and believes students will suffer in his absence.

“He leaves an indelible mark on these young players, a mark of positivity and commitment.”

“Jay is the kind of person that children will remember long into their adult lives,” he said. “But they do not need to be thinking of him in the past tense now. That should happen way down the road.”

“The Town of Westport should do everything it can to ensure that Mr. Pacheco is offered an attractive contract extension. The children of this town deserve it, Jay deserves it, and it will pay itself forward for generations. I humbly ask that the situation be rectified."

Next step

On Friday, Aubin said that the committee incharged with selecting the top candidate is composed of several administrators and staff members, and he is not involved in their deliberations. However, he said, the final decision rests with him.

Most likely, he said, he will hire the top candidate selected by the search committee.