Teachable Moments as Internet Sex Scandal Rocks a High School

As suspended Athletic Director and head baseball coach Francis Murphy sat in a Montgomery County jail cell Monday his varsity baseball team was learning the kind of life lesson teachers don't write into a school curriculum.

Francis Murphy, 39, the school's long time athletic director (and until Monday morning baseball coach and offensive coordinator for the football team) is accused of soliciting a teenage former student for sex via Facebook.  The student told his mother about the Facebook offer and they then filed a police complaint. Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman said Murphy's arrest followed an investigation in which detectives assumed the boy's identity on Facebook. Ferman said the coach was arrested Friday morning at a Bridgeport ice cream shop where he had arranged to meet detectives who were posing as the boy on Facebook.

An affidavit of probable cause released by the district attorney outlines graphic sexual offers detectives allege Murphy made on Facebook to the former student who police say had left Carroll for financial reasons.  The charging document alleges Murphy offered to retrieve cleats the underage student had left in his locker at Carroll and quickly turned the Facebook conversation to sex. According to court charging documents, Murphy allegedly offered to become the boy's "sugar daddy" and give him other items and cash in exchange for sex acts.

Archbishop Carroll President Father Edward Casey said he learned the full details of the allegations at the same time as the public. In a telephone interview with Patch Monday night Casey said "we didn't really know anything specific until the district attorney had her press conference this morning."

The school quickly emailed a to parents announcing Murphy had been put on administrative leave pending the outcome of the case. Casey also met with Murphy's baseball team.

"The kids actually made it easy because they just looked at it as there was nothing they could do with a situation that happened," Casey said. "They didn’t want this to slow down their season. They’ve been working hard all year and they actually renewed the commitment today. We had a meeting with the players this morning after the press conference (and) informed them of what we knew  and to see if they had any concerns, if they had to talk to any counselors or anything. They really said ‘no, we’re ready to move on from this.  We don’t want this to affect our school, our team. There’s nothing we can with the situation that happened and we really want to move forward.'"

Casey, who has been an assistant baseball coach, was named interim head coach through the end of the year. The team rallied with six runs in the bottom of the seventh inning Monday to win 7-6 over Conwell-Egan Catholic.

Casey credits his players with putting the headline-grabbing allegations in perspective and letting the justice system do its job. "We teach the idea that the students are critical thinkers and we want the student to be able to look at the situation and  determine what’s right, what’s wrong, what’s fact, what’s fiction,  and to utilize their parents, utilize people they know, teachers they trust and... to be able to  separate the fact from the fiction.  I’m really proud of the baseball players (for) the way they went about this business."

That's the tone the administration is trying to set for the entire school community. Casey said the school has guidance counselors available to students who may have concerns or questions about this or any other issue at any time.  He emphasized that the message to students Monday was to look at facts and not jump to any conclusions.

As of Monday night the school president said he had taken calls about the situation from some parents and talked to students but that no rumors about the case appeared to be spreading. He said the school wanted to get information out so that students and parents could be prepared as the case goes through the legal system. "If they hear something that’s totally ridiculous or that they don’t think is factual that they look into it. Go to the district attorney’s press conference and see what’s real and what isn’t." You can read the district attorney's press release on the case here.

Parents at Monday's home baseball game were also taking a cautious approach to the story. Bruce Niccolo of Berwyn was watching his son, a junior, play. "I really don't know what to think. All I got was the letter. You can't pass judgement on anybody based on that." 

Several parents said they needed more information. One mother, who asked to be identified only as Lisa, had not read the email or heard the story before coming to watch her daughter play softball on the field next to the boy's baseball game. She said, "It's very surprising and scary to me." She said it's a reminder about the realities of the Internet. "We'll have to talk to them tonight," she said of her three children.

Casey emphasized that the message for the school community going forward is to keep the flow of information open and based on facts.

“That’s what you have to do, that’s absolutely what you have to do. The legal system will do an investigation and we’ll deal with that when they’re concluded.  The district attorney seems to be doing a very fine job up there and she knows what she’s doing. And we can’t create stuff just to,you know, placate people who  are looking for more information than they’re entitled to,"Casey said.

"We put out everything that we know and we just have to trust that everything else is being handled. So you know, you can only give out the information you have. I think we’ve been trying to be very up front with everything we have and not hiding or running from anybody with this. Again, communication is very important with this."

The school is in session Tuesday and then students will be out until April 26th, the same day Francis Murphy is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in front of a Montgomery County judge.