Federal judge reinstates disciplined Warwick football player

Warwick — A federal judge reinstated Warwick High School senior John Sala to the football team last week on the day he was supposed to end a four-game suspension. Sala suited up for the game Friday night against Pine Bush, which the Wildcats won 21-7, but he did not play. Sala’s attorney, Michael Sussman, said Sala was serving a four-game suspension after police busted a party at his house in early September. Sala and three other teammates were suspended indefinitely at first, but then had their suspensions reduced after appealing to the district. Sala was the only one who would sit out four games, Sussman said. The other two received one and two games suspensions. Another player received no suspension at all. Part of the agreement with the reduced suspension was to publicly apologize to his teammates and perform 30 hours of community service, 10 before the suspension would be lifted. That had been done, according to Sussman. Sussman gave this account of events: Sala had a dispute with the athletic director, John Russo, on Sept. 21. Sala and his father sat down with Warwick’s football coach James Sciarra two days later and were told they would let bygones be bygones and to look forward. Two days after that, on Sept. 25, father and son were again called into the coach’s office but this time they were told that John was off the team. No reasons were given. They appealed to Dr. Frank Greenhall, superintendent of Warwick Schools, on Oct. 2 but were denied. They filed their suit with the federal court in White Plains, alleging Sala was denied due process. All of this happened after the initial incident was resolved, according to Sussman. “Due process is a flexible process in law that depends on deprivation,” Sussman said. “If young people are denied to play, it is significant deprivation. There is no constitutional right to play extra curricular activities, but courts are realizing the importance of these activities.” Sussman said Sala is a “solid B student” who has received letters from about “10 to 12 colleges” indicating interest in him as a football player, including Bucknell, the Merchant Marine Academy and Ithaca. Last Friday, Judge Stephen C. Robinson agreed with Sala and reinstated him on the day his four-game suspension was to end. A hearing was set for yesterday, if the district decided to fight the decision. Greenhall, who was named in the suit with the school district, said he could not comment on the lawsuit. Russo was not in school earlier this week to answer any questions. Sala’s mother referred all questions to their attorney.