Published in the Current; co-written with Rich Obrey
In a Wednesday morning meeting at Cape Elizabeth High School open only to boys varsity basketball players and their parents, Superintendent Tom Forcella explained the process that led to the seemingly abrupt firing of longtime basketball coach Jim Ray.
Though no one contacted by the Current could confirm any details, the central issue of Ray’s dismissal appears to be an intense and demanding, sometimes harsh, coaching style that has alienated some players and parents.
At the same time, some Ray supporters are questioning Forcella’s objectivity.
After the meeting, parents and players unhappy with the firing of Ray told the Current that Forcella, a basketball coach himself with two sons on the varsity team, was openly critical of Ray during the season, which ended Feb. 15 with a quarterfinal playoff loss to Greely, 50-37, at the Augusta Civic Center.
According to parent Dave Reid, with Cape behind by a dozen points late in the playoff game, Ray took out two players who had been in most of the game, substituting with two seniors who hadn’t played much. “Dr. Forcella was heard by many fans in the stands, some players and our coach,” swearing, Reid said, and “asking (Ray) if he was quitting.”
“Forcella was livid,” said Reid, “and openly called (Ray) a quitter, yelled at him so that many people heard.”
One of those people, who requested anonymity, corroborated the swearing allegation.
Another parent, John Doherty, said he also saw Forcella after the Greely loss “from 10 yards away” and “he was out of control, I’ll just say that, out of control, livid.”
“Quite frankly,” Reid said, “I was appalled that a man in his position would be so publicly raking over the coach, prior to the end of the game. He continued it after the game, which is when (Forcella) spoke to me.”
Forcella denied swearing during any game, or ever. “I don’t swear. You can call my wife,” he said.
Cape Elizabeth School Board member Kevin Sweeney supported Forcella. “I have never heard a complaint” about Forcella’s behavior, Sweeney said. “If there was any intimation that that had happened, I think (the School Board) would have known about it.”
Sweeney also said that if Forcella had been misbehaving, parents should have alerted the board. “Were they going to let this slide?” Sweeney asked.
Forcella is involved in the story on many levels. His son, Dan, has been a varsity starter for three years, since he was a freshman, and without too much argument is the best player on the team. Another son, John, is the only freshman to make the varsity squad this year. Both boys play for AAU basketball teams in the summer, and Superintendent Forcella is their coach. All three went to national tournaments last summer.
In addition, Forcella coached a team of Cape underclassmen who took the YMCA league championship in Portland last year, a prestigious accomplishment that led to the Cape boys team being ranked high in pre-season polls. Despite the championship, Forcella was not asked to coach this year’s YMCA team, a decision made by Ray.
Firing surprises many
Ray’s firing caught many in town by surprise. Apparently, most people heard about Ray’s dismissal the same way, by reading the advertisement in the classified section in last Sunday’s Maine Sunday Telegram announcing a “coaching opportunity.”
Contacted at home Monday, Ray was reluctant to say much. “I’m not supposed to talk about this,” he said, “so let me just say this. I’m still interested in coaching at Cape Elizabeth. I’d like to talk about it, but I’ve been instructed by my principal and superintendent not to do so.”
“I did not resign,” he added, “and I do want to coach. I’m not pleased, as you can probably tell.”
A group of parents and players showed up at the high school Monday morning and demanded a meeting with principal Jeff Shedd and Forcella. Forcella was unavailable, so the meeting was scheduled for early Wednesday.
Attendance at the meeting was restricted to varsity players and their parents. Junior varsity players were turned away, as were the media and other interested parties.
“I don’t know where they get off doing that,” said School Board member Sweeney when told the doors were closed. “It’s a public building.”
Forcella told the Current “it’s like a parent conference,” and was therefore confidential. He promised another session with non-varsity players and parents “within the next couple days.”
For the most part, according to Reid, the 40-minute meeting was mostly calm. After Forcella explained the process that led to Ray’s dismissal, he fielded questions from the parents, many of which he wouldn’t answer because it concerned a “personnel issue.” According to Reid, Forcella indicated that there were a lot of “issues” with Ray even before the season, issues “that you all know about.”
When Forcella was interrupted by parents who “didn’t have any idea what he was talking about,” Reid said, Forcella declined to elaborate. Instead, Forcella told the group “this is a personnel issue, this is a school issue, it will be handled internally.”
Controversy stirred
Forcella told the Current after the meeting that he had expressly told interested School Board members not to attend, so that the meeting could take place behind closed doors.
He said the decision to fire Ray was based on a formal evaluation by high school Principal Jeff Shedd, who had developed pre-season goals and objectives with Ray. “(Shedd) did not recommend him for rehire,” Forcella said. That was just a recommendation, however. “The final say is with me,” Forcella said.
Shedd said he had recommended Ray not be rehired. “I didn’t feel able to recommend him at that time,” Shedd said. He would not say why. Shedd said the arrangement under which he evaluates Ray is “unusual,” and said he has not evaluated any other coaches.
Shedd said the arrangement is in place because Athletic Administrator Keith Weatherbie, who evaluates all other coaches, has a possible conflict of interest because Ray’s wife, Susan, works in Weatherbie’s office.
Ray said he received his postseason evaluation just before the McDonald’s all-star games in Bangor last month, which he attends as president of the Maine Association of Basketball Coaches, a post he’s held since 1999.
Ray said he took the evaluation with him to read and consider, “but didn’t sign (it) because I couldn’t agree with it.”
Controversy swirled publicly around Ray this season after he identified to two newspapers (including this one) a player suspended from the team for violating school policy. Colin Malone, 18, a starter and one of the team’s key players, was suspended for the season after attending a party at Sugarloaf on New Year’s Eve.
Forcella said a one-hour closed-door meeting between the School Board and Malone’s parents Jan. 16 “had no bearing at all” on the decision to fire Ray.
Malone himself spoke to the Current in support of Ray. “He knows more about basketball than anyone I’ve ever met,” Malone said. “He’s always treated me with a lot of respect.”
Students and parents who were excluded from the meeting Wednesday expressed frustration at being left out, with one asking why parents of JV players, “who were looking forward” to playing under Ray, were kept out. Ray himself was not in the meeting, either.
“I am definitely not happy now,” said Allie Knight, a senior. “Dr. Forcella shouldn’t even have a vote on this issue because he has two kids on this team.”
“(Ray) would have been the girls (basketball) head varsity coach if it weren’t for Dr. Forcella,” said Margie Reid, a senior on that team, which was coached by Ray for two weeks before the season began.
Forcella said Ray can appeal the decision to the School Board.
Ray a true Caper
Cut Ray and he’ll probably bleed maroon instead of red. A 1980 Cape graduate, he was a star on the basketball team himself.
He is third on the school’s all-time scorers list, with 966 points, and is the career leader in assists, with 420. He achieved similar success at USM before graduating in 1984.
He’s 18th on the all-time scorers list, and the career leader in assists with 624. In 1999, Ray was inducted into USM’s sports hall of fame.
Ray was an assistant coach for John Casey before taking over the girls program at Cape for two years. In 1994, Casey resigned after eight seasons, and Ray transferred to the boys program, where he’s been ever since.
“It was always my goal to become a varsity coach,” said Ray, in a Portland Press Herald article about his hiring. “I was anxious to get my own program.”
It’s been a tough year for basketball coaches in Maine. First, the boys varsity coach at Traip Academy, Matt Mitchell, was fired early this season when 10 of 13 players on his 5-2 team quit over their unhappiness with his methods.
Next, Bonny Eagle’s boys basketball head coach, T.J. Hesler, was suspended in mid-season while school administrators investigated complaints from parents and players. After sitting out two games, Hesler was reinstated, but resigned after the season.
Ray’s situation was a hot topic on a web site devoted to Maine basketball. More than 60 messages on the topic have been posted at www.MBR.org since Monday night, generating over 6000 “views” by people reading them. Little of the information was more than speculation or second-hand, however, and all of it delivered from behind anonymous user names.
Thursday, April 3, 2003
Wednesday, April 2, 2003
Transit service faces cuts
Published in the Current and the American Journal
A state cut in transportation funds for Medicaid patients could force several of the state’s social service transportation companies to close and would result in “dramatic cuts” to Cumberland County’s Regional Transportation Program.
A $600,000 cut in state funds proposed by Gov. John Baldacci would result in a further $1.2 million loss in matching federal funds, according to Jon McNulty, RTP’s executive director.
That loss would be spread across the state’s social service transportation agencies, but would be “a devastating blow” to all involved, he said.
“In some areas, they would simply go out of business,” McNulty said. That would leave people without a way to get to dialysis treatments, child care or work.
If the cuts – up to 60 percent of RTP’s funding – go through, RTP would need to lay off some of its 48 drivers. The agency now runs 260,000 trips per year, logging 3 million passenger-miles for 4,500 clients, McNulty said.
Though RTP wouldn’t close its doors, there would be reductions.
“We would have to make some dramatic cuts,” McNulty said.
In particular, the agency wouldn’t be able to afford volunteers, who pay for their own vehicles but are reimbursed 30 cents per mile. “Volunteers are very inexpensive by comparison” to maintenance of the agency’s own vehicles, McNulty said.
“We’ll survive,” he said. Primarily that is because of other programs RTP has in partnership with the city of Portland, and an arrangement in which the state Department of Transportation provides RTP’s vehicles.
McNulty questioned the wisdom of cutting spending that brings in additional federal funding to the state, and said there are “administrative ways” state officials could restore some of the loss, despite the approval of the state budget last week.
A state cut in transportation funds for Medicaid patients could force several of the state’s social service transportation companies to close and would result in “dramatic cuts” to Cumberland County’s Regional Transportation Program.
A $600,000 cut in state funds proposed by Gov. John Baldacci would result in a further $1.2 million loss in matching federal funds, according to Jon McNulty, RTP’s executive director.
That loss would be spread across the state’s social service transportation agencies, but would be “a devastating blow” to all involved, he said.
“In some areas, they would simply go out of business,” McNulty said. That would leave people without a way to get to dialysis treatments, child care or work.
If the cuts – up to 60 percent of RTP’s funding – go through, RTP would need to lay off some of its 48 drivers. The agency now runs 260,000 trips per year, logging 3 million passenger-miles for 4,500 clients, McNulty said.
Though RTP wouldn’t close its doors, there would be reductions.
“We would have to make some dramatic cuts,” McNulty said.
In particular, the agency wouldn’t be able to afford volunteers, who pay for their own vehicles but are reimbursed 30 cents per mile. “Volunteers are very inexpensive by comparison” to maintenance of the agency’s own vehicles, McNulty said.
“We’ll survive,” he said. Primarily that is because of other programs RTP has in partnership with the city of Portland, and an arrangement in which the state Department of Transportation provides RTP’s vehicles.
McNulty questioned the wisdom of cutting spending that brings in additional federal funding to the state, and said there are “administrative ways” state officials could restore some of the loss, despite the approval of the state budget last week.
Unum fires CEO after stock slide
Published in the Current and the American Journal
Facing as many as 13 class-action securities fraud lawsuits, profit restatements, downgrades from investment rating firms and a crisis of employee morale, UnumProvident fired long-time chairman and CEO Harold Chandler and replaced him March 27 with interim president and CEO Thomas Watjen, Chandler’s right-hand man.
Layoffs and organizational restructuring are not on the table, said the company’s spokeswoman in Portland, Linnea Olsen. “We need everyone that’s here,” she said. UnumProvident, which sells disability insurance, is headquartered in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The board’s firing of Chandler “is not something that was caused by any one event,” Olsen said. Instead, it was “the cumulative effect of many things.”
Among those were a $29.1 million restated reduction in earnings for 2000, 2001 and 2002, the result of a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry into the company’s investment disclosures.
And in the past three weeks, several investment-rating firms, including Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s, have downgraded UnumProvident stock, citing concerns the company is over-invested in high-risk companies.
The company recently sold $500 million worth of these below-investment-grade bonds specifically to placate rating agencies, Olsen said.
But the company still believes in its business plan and will continue to implement it quickly, Watjen told analysts in a Monday conference call briefing.
A crisis of confidence and leadership led to Chandler’s ouster, Olsen said. He will get $8.5 million in severance pay, roughly four times his annual pay in 2000, and $8.5 million in pension benefits.
Chandler joined Provident as its CEO in 1993, and presided over the merger with the Portland-based Unum in 1999, after which he remained CEO of the combined company. One analyst said in the conference call that she was glad that Watjen would stay on “to provide continuity,” while another expressed surprise that one architect of the company’s plan would be fired and the other would take his place.
Watjen said he would keep the plan moving, but would have a different leadership style from Chandler, who he said was less decisive, less inclusive and less communicative than Watjen will be. He said his new style would become evident very shortly, and pointed to the increased disclosures in the company’s annual report, filed with the SEC Monday, as an example of more communications. He said company employees were notified of the management change over the weekend and would be involved in further company-wide discussions in the coming days, to allow them to understand what happened.
In the coming months, UnumProvident will be “out in the marketplace” seeking to raise as much as $1.5 billion, according to a November 2002 filing with the SEC. Olsen said the company would be looking for between $500 million and $1 billion, while Watjen told analysts Monday that the figure would be between $750 million and $1 billion.
The money is not earmarked for spending but instead will be used as capital on hand to offset concerns held by investment analysts, Olsen said.
“We will continue to have investment losses,” she said. Rating agencies are therefore looking for additional capital on hand to cushion those losses, she said.
Some of the capital will come from internal processes, such as regrouping some old individual disability policies into group policies, and there may be further sales of below-investment-grade bonds, she said.
Also, inter-company loans from the insurance subsidiaries to the holding company will be repaid, giving the subsidiaries more ready cash, Olsen said.
She expects there will be a combination of stock sales and convertible bonds. “We will not be issuing straight debt,” Olsen said. Initial indications from investment banks lead her to believe the company will raise the money it needs, she said.
The company also faces 13 class-action lawsuits alleging the company committed securities fraud by failing to truthfully disclose financial performance information to shareholders and prospective shareholders.
Olsen discounted the lawsuits, saying, “it’s an annoyance.” She said many of them were filed by law firms that specialize in stock-price collapses. The last group of suits was filed after the price dropped 62 percent, bottoming out below $6 per share.
“None of those classes have been certified,” Olsen said. Without a judge’s certification that a broad class of people was harmed, the suits cannot proceed.
The company also was fined $1 million by Georgia’s insurance commissioner for violations of that state’s insurance code during the merger of Unum and Provident in 1999.
“It was a slap on the wrist,” Olsen said.
The company’s search for a new, permanent CEO will begin shortly, and interim CEO Watjen will be considered for the position, Olsen said. “We have a real sense of urgency about this,” she said.
Facing as many as 13 class-action securities fraud lawsuits, profit restatements, downgrades from investment rating firms and a crisis of employee morale, UnumProvident fired long-time chairman and CEO Harold Chandler and replaced him March 27 with interim president and CEO Thomas Watjen, Chandler’s right-hand man.
Layoffs and organizational restructuring are not on the table, said the company’s spokeswoman in Portland, Linnea Olsen. “We need everyone that’s here,” she said. UnumProvident, which sells disability insurance, is headquartered in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The board’s firing of Chandler “is not something that was caused by any one event,” Olsen said. Instead, it was “the cumulative effect of many things.”
Among those were a $29.1 million restated reduction in earnings for 2000, 2001 and 2002, the result of a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry into the company’s investment disclosures.
And in the past three weeks, several investment-rating firms, including Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s, have downgraded UnumProvident stock, citing concerns the company is over-invested in high-risk companies.
The company recently sold $500 million worth of these below-investment-grade bonds specifically to placate rating agencies, Olsen said.
But the company still believes in its business plan and will continue to implement it quickly, Watjen told analysts in a Monday conference call briefing.
A crisis of confidence and leadership led to Chandler’s ouster, Olsen said. He will get $8.5 million in severance pay, roughly four times his annual pay in 2000, and $8.5 million in pension benefits.
Chandler joined Provident as its CEO in 1993, and presided over the merger with the Portland-based Unum in 1999, after which he remained CEO of the combined company. One analyst said in the conference call that she was glad that Watjen would stay on “to provide continuity,” while another expressed surprise that one architect of the company’s plan would be fired and the other would take his place.
Watjen said he would keep the plan moving, but would have a different leadership style from Chandler, who he said was less decisive, less inclusive and less communicative than Watjen will be. He said his new style would become evident very shortly, and pointed to the increased disclosures in the company’s annual report, filed with the SEC Monday, as an example of more communications. He said company employees were notified of the management change over the weekend and would be involved in further company-wide discussions in the coming days, to allow them to understand what happened.
In the coming months, UnumProvident will be “out in the marketplace” seeking to raise as much as $1.5 billion, according to a November 2002 filing with the SEC. Olsen said the company would be looking for between $500 million and $1 billion, while Watjen told analysts Monday that the figure would be between $750 million and $1 billion.
The money is not earmarked for spending but instead will be used as capital on hand to offset concerns held by investment analysts, Olsen said.
“We will continue to have investment losses,” she said. Rating agencies are therefore looking for additional capital on hand to cushion those losses, she said.
Some of the capital will come from internal processes, such as regrouping some old individual disability policies into group policies, and there may be further sales of below-investment-grade bonds, she said.
Also, inter-company loans from the insurance subsidiaries to the holding company will be repaid, giving the subsidiaries more ready cash, Olsen said.
She expects there will be a combination of stock sales and convertible bonds. “We will not be issuing straight debt,” Olsen said. Initial indications from investment banks lead her to believe the company will raise the money it needs, she said.
The company also faces 13 class-action lawsuits alleging the company committed securities fraud by failing to truthfully disclose financial performance information to shareholders and prospective shareholders.
Olsen discounted the lawsuits, saying, “it’s an annoyance.” She said many of them were filed by law firms that specialize in stock-price collapses. The last group of suits was filed after the price dropped 62 percent, bottoming out below $6 per share.
“None of those classes have been certified,” Olsen said. Without a judge’s certification that a broad class of people was harmed, the suits cannot proceed.
The company also was fined $1 million by Georgia’s insurance commissioner for violations of that state’s insurance code during the merger of Unum and Provident in 1999.
“It was a slap on the wrist,” Olsen said.
The company’s search for a new, permanent CEO will begin shortly, and interim CEO Watjen will be considered for the position, Olsen said. “We have a real sense of urgency about this,” she said.
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Chancellor Gardens changes hands
Published in the Current and the American Journal
With its principal owner in bankruptcy, the company that owned Chancellor Gardens on Scott Dyer Road has sold the Cape Elizabeth assisted living home, as well as a sister facility in Saco, to Commonwealth Communities of Massachusetts. The home has been renamed Village Crossings of Cape Elizabeth.
Abraham Gosman, who lives in Florida, was the majority owner of the company that owned Chancellor Gardens and Chancellor Place.
He was also a founder of Carematrix, the company that managed the Chancellor properties. Carematrix will not continue its management functions, according to Beth Derrico, a spokeswoman for the company.
Gosman, who made millions in real estate and healthcare, filed for bankruptcy in 2001, according to William King of Development Specialists Inc., the Miami-based firm that was appointed by the court as trustee for Gosman’s assets.
His filing was cited as an example of a problem some legislators see with the federal bankruptcy system – the unlimited homestead exemption. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisc., told the U.S. Senate in March 2001 that Gosman, while owing as much as $233 million, was keeping a 64,000-square-foot mansion in West Palm Beach, Fla.
In his Maine business dealings, Gosman had guaranteed a mortgage taken out by the Chancellor company, with the two homes as collateral. “The value (of the properties) was significantly less than the mortgage,” King said.
Rather than foreclosing on the homes, the lender agreed to cooperate in the sale of the properties and take the proceeds as partial payment of the debt, King said.
The change of ownership took effect March 1, bringing Chancellor Gardens and Chancellor Place in Saco into a company that already operates 12 nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities, six assisted living homes and four specialized hospitals in Massachusetts.
“This is our first step into Maine,” said David Calendrella, vice president of operations for Commonwealth Communities.
Last year Commonwealth bought two Massachusetts nursing homes from the same owners.
“They proved to be quality facilities,” Calendrella said. That experience led to this recent deal.
“We’re very bullish on the Maine marketplace,” he said.
The company does not have significant plans to change things at Chancellor Gardens. “At the moment, the plan is to introduce ourselves as the new owners,” Calendrella said. No staff changes are in the works, he said. Everyone has signed on with the new owners.
Calendrella plans to pay close attention to hiring practices and employee supervision, in the wake of an employee’s February arrest on charges of stealing medication from several patients. He said the company would be open about any problems that might arise.
It is the second turnover of a senior living facility on Scott Dyer Road in three months. In January Haven Healthcare of Cromwell, Conn., took over the management of the Viking Nursing Home and Crescent House, with plans to take ownership in the next several months.
With its principal owner in bankruptcy, the company that owned Chancellor Gardens on Scott Dyer Road has sold the Cape Elizabeth assisted living home, as well as a sister facility in Saco, to Commonwealth Communities of Massachusetts. The home has been renamed Village Crossings of Cape Elizabeth.
Abraham Gosman, who lives in Florida, was the majority owner of the company that owned Chancellor Gardens and Chancellor Place.
He was also a founder of Carematrix, the company that managed the Chancellor properties. Carematrix will not continue its management functions, according to Beth Derrico, a spokeswoman for the company.
Gosman, who made millions in real estate and healthcare, filed for bankruptcy in 2001, according to William King of Development Specialists Inc., the Miami-based firm that was appointed by the court as trustee for Gosman’s assets.
His filing was cited as an example of a problem some legislators see with the federal bankruptcy system – the unlimited homestead exemption. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisc., told the U.S. Senate in March 2001 that Gosman, while owing as much as $233 million, was keeping a 64,000-square-foot mansion in West Palm Beach, Fla.
In his Maine business dealings, Gosman had guaranteed a mortgage taken out by the Chancellor company, with the two homes as collateral. “The value (of the properties) was significantly less than the mortgage,” King said.
Rather than foreclosing on the homes, the lender agreed to cooperate in the sale of the properties and take the proceeds as partial payment of the debt, King said.
The change of ownership took effect March 1, bringing Chancellor Gardens and Chancellor Place in Saco into a company that already operates 12 nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities, six assisted living homes and four specialized hospitals in Massachusetts.
“This is our first step into Maine,” said David Calendrella, vice president of operations for Commonwealth Communities.
Last year Commonwealth bought two Massachusetts nursing homes from the same owners.
“They proved to be quality facilities,” Calendrella said. That experience led to this recent deal.
“We’re very bullish on the Maine marketplace,” he said.
The company does not have significant plans to change things at Chancellor Gardens. “At the moment, the plan is to introduce ourselves as the new owners,” Calendrella said. No staff changes are in the works, he said. Everyone has signed on with the new owners.
Calendrella plans to pay close attention to hiring practices and employee supervision, in the wake of an employee’s February arrest on charges of stealing medication from several patients. He said the company would be open about any problems that might arise.
It is the second turnover of a senior living facility on Scott Dyer Road in three months. In January Haven Healthcare of Cromwell, Conn., took over the management of the Viking Nursing Home and Crescent House, with plans to take ownership in the next several months.
Thursday, March 20, 2003
Bliss wants to lower voting age to 17
Published in the Current
Rep. Larry Bliss, D-Cape Elizabeth and South Portland, is the lead co-sponsor of a bill that would lower Maine’s voting age to 17. He and bill sponsor Rep. Glenn Cummings, D-Portland, have been touring the area talking to high school students about it.
The reaction has been mixed, Bliss said. The 18-year-olds in the classes aren’t impressed by the idea, while the 17-year-olds really like it. Bliss said he and
Cummings, both former high school history and government teachers, want to make government more accessible to young people.
“If you’re 17 years old when you’re learning about how the government works, you ought to be able to have a say in it,” Bliss said. Further, many 17-year-olds in Maine are paying income tax and have no voice in how that money is spent.
Rep. Larry Bliss, D-Cape Elizabeth and South Portland, is the lead co-sponsor of a bill that would lower Maine’s voting age to 17. He and bill sponsor Rep. Glenn Cummings, D-Portland, have been touring the area talking to high school students about it.
The reaction has been mixed, Bliss said. The 18-year-olds in the classes aren’t impressed by the idea, while the 17-year-olds really like it. Bliss said he and
Cummings, both former high school history and government teachers, want to make government more accessible to young people.
“If you’re 17 years old when you’re learning about how the government works, you ought to be able to have a say in it,” Bliss said. Further, many 17-year-olds in Maine are paying income tax and have no voice in how that money is spent.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)