AUGUSTA, Maine — Lee Academy has been placed on probation for two years by the Maine Principals’ Association for violations of that organization’s athletic recruitment policy involving inducements to student-athletes attending the school.
Join Bangor Daily News
Already have an account? Login Here
The probation became effective Oct. 9 in the aftermath of an investigation conducted in response to a complaint filed March 20 by fellow MPA member Dirigo High School of Dixfield.
The complaint was lodged not long after Dirigo played Lee Academy in the Class C boys basketball state championship game for the second straight year. Dirigo won the 2012 matchup 74-67 after Lee had defeated the Cougars 65-55 in the 2011 final.
MPA Executive Director Dick Durost acknowledged the investigation emphasized Lee Academy’s boys undergraduate basketball program, which has featured significant contributions from dormitory students in recent years, but he added that all athletic programs at the independent school were scrutinized during the investigation.
Durost would not elaborate on the nature of any specific inducements involved, though he did say, “Private and some public schools are expected to recruit students, but they are not expected to provide inducements for athletes to attend their schools.”
And while Durost said officials from both Lee Academy and Dirigo accepted the findings of a three-person hearing panel of MPA principals that investigated the complaint, Lee Academy Headmaster Bruce Lindberg maintained his school’s innocence.
“First of all, we don’t agree that we’ve done anything wrong,” Lindberg said. “We operate as a private school,and private schools have to function differently than a public school does.
“But we are going to respect the decision of the MPA committee; we’ll file the appropriate information, and we know we’re on probation.”
Dirigo Principal Michael Poulin, who wrote the letter of complaint on behalf of his school, was satisfied with the ruling.
“I’m happy with the results and pleased with the action taken by the MPA,” said Poulin. “I want to thank the MPA for how they handled the whole situation.”
After Dirigo filed its complaint, the MPA appointed an investigator — a principal from another MPA-member school — who met with officials from both schools and subsequently filed a report with the MPA’s Interscholastic Management Committee.
The two schools involved didn’t agree on the investigator’s findings, so a three-person hearing panel of principals, one selected by each school and a third chosen by the MPA central office, was created to further study the issue.
That panel issued its findings on Oct. 9, and they were subsequently approved by the Interscholastic Management Committee on Nov. 6.
The panel found Lee Academy to have violated Article II, Section 5-E of the MPA bylaws, titled “Inducements for Athletic Purposes”; as a result, Lee Academy was placed on probation for two calendar years effective Oct. 9.
Durost said schools rarely are placed on probation by the MPA, recalling no more than two previous occurrences during his 11½-year tenure as the organization’s executive director.
He added that there is no protocol etched in the MPA’s bylaws to address a school found in violation of its probationary status.
“If there was a next error, it would be looked at even more closely, with significant consequences,” Durost said. “Given how rarely it’s been done, probation from our standpoint is seen as a significant statement.”
As part of the probation, Lee Academy was tasked within 60 days of the panel’s findings to “develop and provide the MPA with written policies that will describe in detail the admissions process at Lee Academy including the roles and shared responsibilities of (if applicable) the headmaster, admissions director, guidance department and others.
“Further, Lee Academy will also develop within that same 60-day period written policies that will describe in detail the process and criteria for awarding financial aid to students admitted to Lee Academy, including the roles and shared responsibilities of the headmaster, admissions director, financial officer, guidance department and others.
“After each school year and no later than June 30, 2013, and June 30, 2014, the headmaster will provide the MPA with detailed information regarding tuition and room and board of all tuition students. Additionally, this information will also include a breakdown of participants in interscholastic athletics by sport for each student.
“The MPA executive director will provide periodic updates to the Interscholastic Management Committee as to the progress of these rulings.”
Lee Academy has not yet provided the MPA with the information due within 60 days of the investigative panel’s findings, but Lindberg said the school would comply with the deadline.
Lindberg said he hopes the case will have an enduring educational purpose of its own.
“The thing that pleases me most out of the whole situation is that the MPA now has a better understanding of the operation of independent schools, and they’ve developed a committee that will study the public versus private issue,” he said.
“And only good will come from that because all schools will have a better understanding of how independent schools work.”
Durost said the MPA for eight years has had an ad hoc committee that addresses issues related to private versus public schools. That group has met periodically since then, and there are plan for it to get together again for the current school year, though Durost said the meeting won’t be specifically about the Lee case.
Maine and 45 other states include private schools as members of their interscholastic associations, with only Maryland, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia and the District of Columbia having separate public and nonpublic entities.
A private academy founded in 1845, Lee has contracts with local school boards to educate students from Lee, Springfield, Webster and Winn. The school also serves students from Greenbush, Kingman, Topsfield, Vanceboro and the Passamaquoddy Tribe of Maine. Tuition, room and board is approximately $26,000 a year for seven-day boarding students.
Under Lindberg’s leadership, Lee Academy has been marketing American high school education to the Far East while expanding its enrollment of foreign-born students educated in Lee, a small northern Penobscot County town about 10 miles east of Lincoln and Interstate 95.
Lee Academy’s undergraduate enrollment was listed as 270 in the 2012 MPA tourney basketball program.
About time! When will they be taking a long hard look at Cheverus?
They did. They took away their gold ball.
Guess they finally caught up with ya Randy!
Not really, all they got was probation….so yea, all to do about nuthin’ as far as any kind of punishement. They will just be extra careful now.
Did someone finally question why some of the out of town ball players
are 6′ 11″ and dont have much of a Maine accent??
What was the tip-off?
So what??
“First of all, we don’t agree that we’ve done anything wrong,” Lindberg said. “We operate as a private school,and private schools have to function differently than a public school does”…..Why should these private schools who recruit be allowed to play in the public school tournaments???
Some private schools in Maine have local Maine students tuitioned to their school because the town in which the student lives does not have a a high school and geographically it is the most reasonable place for the student to attend high school.
Unfortunately, this won’t change anything.
What is the penalty beside probation? Are they still allowed to play in the tournament during this time period? Cheverus gave up their gold ball. The only right thing to do is not allow them to be in the playoffs. I suppose now the big MPA will watch their girls team who just happens to have a girl 6′ 5″ tall from overseas.
Penalty ??
Pffffft !!
I think the offending staff members might have gotten a dirty look
from the authorities.
Maybe even a ” finger wag” in their face.
Harsh justice , you say ?
Perhaps, but this very serious.
High school sports is big business.
Any MPA team can have anyone from anywhere with with a legitimate reason to be there. Your remark about height and geographics is out of line.
I called Dick Durst about this 5 years ago, all I got was YA YA YA
I talked to Dick about it several years ago, too. He had no interest in stopping it.
What is the penalty beside probation? Cheverus gave up their trophy. Are they allowed to play in the tournament for two years while on probation? Anything less is a joke.
Are they offering free room and board for any transfer students from Hampden Academy again this year?
Did hear of that one. So it’s true?
Actually she was from Lee to begin with, she’s living with her family by choice. We didn’t recruit her, nor have we ever recruited anyone..
Actually, they were refering to a player onthe boys team from last season. No one should have any issue with the girl moving back to town to live with one of her parents.
I don’t think it’s fair to mention these kids names….I understand what you are saying and agree with you, but…….I don’t think it’s right to mention any player’s name.
rusjan, You are right. I edited the above post. My point was more to point out that it was two different cases,with two different students. Last year’s situation was much different than this year’s. They just both happened to come from the same school before arriving at LEE ACADEMY.
Thank you……that’s class. :O)
WOW, HAHAHAHA. That is the funniest statement that has been made! I lived in that area for a while and I know for a FACT that Lee Academy recruited and still does recruit! That’s what a private school does!
look at the title of the article!! You people from Lee are ridiculous.
Im friends with alums of the school that want nothing to do with the program because of how it operates.
In a way, every student who enrolls in a private academy, even when tuition is paid through contract with the local district or community, is “recruited.” When they compete and win in competitions with public schools, particularly in games as sacrosanct as basketball, they’re open to all sorts of abuse. When they win championships there is no end to it.
Best to end it by competing with other private academies and be done with it. It might mean more travel, but so what? The kids will have as much fun playing, they won’t need to suffer the stigma of being “ringers,” when they win and their academic competitiveness (the real reason for being there in the first place)won’t suffer a bit.
The MPA does not have a policy with regard to repeat offenders?They better sit down and develop one very soon. As the State’s financial situation worsens, some of these schools will be tempted to bend the rules in order to survive. The pain of handling this problem now will look small compared to what will happen if everyone sits around and waits for the integrity of High school sports to greatly diminish to a point where student athletes, coaches and parents don’t want to “play.”
Maybe academies should be forced to go up a class or have them play class A schools only. Or even play only academies or private schools.
Besides probation what was the penalty, just a slap on the wrist and don`t get caught next time.
Does that mean Dirigo gets credit for state championship in 2011 too?
What a giant waste of time and resources.
Why does the MPA, maine principals and vice-principals, get all this power to make all these decisions; is it just because they make a fortune on their monopoly, which is collecting all the spectator money at all the Maine tournament basketball games? Maybe, it is time for Maine’s Department of Education and Maine’s Commissioner of Education to step up and start making more decisions on situations like this one.
No school is forced to be a member of the MPA.
That, and the last thing you want is a politically appointed Commissioner changing the rules every time there’s a new governor.
Yeah, actually I shudder, too, when I think of the Dept. of Ed. and the Commissioner of Education being in charge of anything much. I do still have a problem with the MPA though, having the final say in far too many educational issues. The schools and the public might be more fairly served, if the decision making body in cases like this, was not just the MPA but rather…a committee represented by superintendents, principals, coaches, teachers, parents, and even students.
The MPA is responsible for all varsity high-school sports post-season play. The basketball tournament is the only sport that draws a profit, and most of those funds help support the other sports.
I shudder to think what would happen if the Dept. of Ed was in charge.
So, if private schools function differently than public schools, as Lindberg said, should they participate in public school tournaments when they have such an advantage? Times have changed, the situation has changed, it’s time to revisit the guidelines.
Just like a month ago when Lee “officials” claimed they didn’t know the girl getting off the plane “just happened” to be 6’5″
If they want to be a prep school, make ’em be a prep school…
Never checked the Cony girl’s teams.
Why didn’t anyone complain about MCI for all those years??? … Oh yea, they weren’t very good…It’s okay for the private schools to play in the tournament as long as they are bad. Is that the way this goes??
Well………….yes! MCI wasn’t very good, because they weren’t very good at it. Things changed after “all those years” Lee Academy and others have brought this scrutiny upon themselves.
Unfortunately this is how it goes. If Lee wasn’t winning, no one cares to complain. All of sudden the program is doing well and the mbr junkies have their panties in an uproar. This happens all the time- certain players from Portland transfer and Chevrus picks up a few good players as well as another private school.
This is the only way they can win is by recruiting or giving the good players a deal on their tuition. Other schools can’t do this. By the way did the boy from Hampden graduate last year or quit school after basketball season? His name was not listed in their graduation cermonies.
“Inducements.”
It would be helpful if the question “What were the inducements?” were answered, as well as what prompted the complaint and what the Lee Academy headmaster means when he says his school is innocent and that it must operate its athletics differently than public schools.
I agree 100% — I was looking for the very same thing in the article, and all I found was “We’re not going to get into it here…”. If it was valid enough to warrant probation, then it should be valid enough to be made public in a news article!
Ummm, didn’t need to do a big investigation, guys. The whole state has long known that Lee (and a few other schools, ahem, paging Washington Academy…..) have been recruiting athletes.
Doubt this will stop them from doing it, slap on the wrist is all it is.
huh
and?
The only solution that eliminates the possibility of impropriety is to have private schools not play public schools in athletic events.
I don’t think fully private schools can play in MPA sports now. Maybe they need to add a new division for schools like Lee, MCI, Dover, Chevrus and include the public schools who are recruiting students in this new division as well.
Dover (Foxcroft Academy) is considered private now? They take everyone in about a half dozen communities (Dover, Sebec, Monson, Charleston, Bowerbank, and other then perhaps padding their math team none of the boarding students help the athletics programs and I can guarantee the ones living in the dorms pay top dollar to do so and aren’t going for free on a “clean air program” scholarship like it appears those at Lee Academy are.
Dover Foxcroft is a private school much like MCI and Lee Academy. Local students can attend for free, out of district students have to pay tuition.
Students from Lee, Springfield, Winn, and Webster attend LA and their town pays for their tuition (just like at any public high school.) Students from the other towns near Lee have a choice of going to Lee or any other local school (Mattanawcook, East Grand, Woodland, etc.)
Except Foxcroft doesn’t have a prep program of any sort. They don’t have post graduate players and they certainly don’t get transfers that hope to audition for the post grad program by playing on the Varsity squad.
Do you see the difference as it pertains to competitive balance?
????? Your post to me makes no sense.
You asked if Foxcroft was a private school and I replied to that. Then you post about a prep program and ask me if I see the difference in prep schools and FA. You didn’t ask if FA was a prep school, you asked if it was private.
“I don’t think fully private schools can play in MPA sports now.”
Wayneflete won the Class C girls soccer title last month and is a private school. My understanding is that schools that openly give athletic scholarships are prevented from MPA sports. The problem is that there is no way to avoid the appearance of impropriety by simply saying “Oh, we don’t give scholarships” when the school has the ability to waive or reduce tuition.
Agreed if that applied to tournaments only.
So other than probation, there is no punishment? I think it’s ridiculous that the MPA spend money to investigate. What will the costs at this year’s basketball tournaments be? $10 per person? They talk about how the crowds are not as big as they used to be, probably because it costs more to get into a basketball game than it does to go to a movie.
Since when has high school basketball become so important that you will do anything to win? Give up your moral character, bribe, give gifts, just to win a damn ballgame.
You are supposed to be teaching them sportsmanship, team spirit etc and yes, learning to lose with grace. These kids are NOT going to be playing in the NBA and neither are any of the coaches. When you start teaching them to win at any cost you have already started out a LOSER.
That mindset lives in many locker rooms other than Lee’s.
Yes,I know it exists in many many schools and it is too bad…the kids are losing in more ways than one when they are taught this philosophy of winning at any cost.
shouldn’t the MPA be more worried about the educations of kids and Maine , not all this stupid small town basketball rivalries!!! Another sad day for kids in Maine who need an education…now that all these high schools are recruiting out of country students to get money into their budget, this will become more of an issue.. come on MPA, focus on something more important…
so there will be no NBA team in Lee this year?
Where were all these complainants when Lee Academy was just barely able to stay open because they couldn’t compete financially with the much larger public schools? I’m no fan of Lindberg but he brought the school back from the brink of death. Funny how you never heard a complaint when teams from public schools won title after title. Lee Academy, under Lindberg’s leadership, has positioned itself to remain successful in a hostile financial climate. Cry babies.
According to their website, tuition is actually $31,000 a year, not $26,000. That extra $5000 is a pretty big difference.