Harwood board drops investigation, lets hockey coach firing stand

June 25, 2021  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

Four months after Harwood Boys Hockey Coach Jacob Grout was fired for sending an expletive-laden message to his team, the Harwood school board has decided against having an investigator look into how the incident was handled. 

Retired Central Vermont general surgeon Dr. David “Dick” Butsch addresses the HUUSD School Board. Screenshot

The Harwood Unified Union School District’s board Wednesday night voted 6-5 to reverse a decision it made April 24 calling for an independent investigator to meet with all parties in the February incident to prepare a report for the school board. 

The decision came at the board’s first regular meeting in person at Harwood Union High School since March 2020 when meetings shifted to video conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

One member of the public attended Wednesday’s meeting to comment on the coach matter before the board. Dr. David “Dick” Butsch, a longtime champion of youth hockey in Central Vermont and a founder of the Central Vermont Civic Center in Montpelier stepped forward to address the school board. 

He said he did not personally know Jacob Grout, but he had followed the news of Grout’s firing. “I’d like to see the treatment of Jacob Grout justified,” Butsch said, urging the board to continue with the investigation. “I don’t think it’s been justified.” 

A familiar name in the Central Vermont community where an annual high school hockey tournament bears his name, Butsch was recognized in 2013 with a resolution by the Vermont state Legislature commending his civic involvement and his 40 years practicing medicine at Central Vermont Medical Center. U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., in 2000 honored Butsch and his entire family with a tribute memorialized in the Congressional Record that included a Burlington Free Press news story by reporter Mike Donoghue about the general surgeon and his five children -- including triplets -- who played hockey for U-32 High School. 

Butsch said the lack of explanation for firing Grout remains a concern in the community even beyond Harwood. Grout’s case was the focus of an online petition that garnered 1,382 signatures calling for sanctioning but reinstating the coach. “You can imagine what some of us in the community perceive,” Butsch told the board. 

Months of consideration

The Harwood school board in April opted for an independent inquiry after considering legal advice and debating whether to meet in public with Grout, the high school administrators, a parent who lodged the original complaint, and potentially student-athletes on the team. Board members voiced concern that such a discussion wouldn’t be productive and could become a spectacle, so it agreed to hire an investigator to meet with those involved. 

Before an investigator could be hired, however, the move touched off a rare reaction by the entire administrative team of the school district. Fourteen principals, assistant principals, and district-wide administrators signed onto a letter and attended the school board’s May 12 meeting via Zoom to tell the board an investigation was overreach. 

“We believe that the board is overstepping their role and responsibility in this situation. Intervening in this issue overreaches into the clear and legally defined responsibility of the administration,” the letter stated. The administrators said investigating the matter would set a precedent of the board wading into employee supervision. 

That prompted the board to change course. At the end of May, it agreed to meet just with the principals and superintendent to discuss the incident. That meeting was held in executive session June 16 and afterward, board leaders urged the group to drop the plan for an investigation. 

Fiery message draws fire 

The incident in question involved an electronic message that former Coach Jacob Grout sent to the boys hockey team in mid-February a few days before the season’s opening game. The season had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Harwood team sat out its first game date due to a quarantine situation. 

Jacob Grout, center, with his young son, meets the Harwood Boys Hockey team at the Ice Center in Waterbury in March as they head to the Division-II state championship game. Photo by Gordon Miller.

Grout sent the message to the team captain who forwarded it to the rest of the players. The note contained multiple expletives as Grout pushed back on complaints from players and even some parents about playing time and game plans. But he ended by rallying the team ahead of the first game: “May there be no mercy for those who step in our way from here on out. We are Highlanders, we are family, we WILL be champions,” he wrote.

This past season was Grout’s second year coaching at his alma mater after leading the Harwood team to the 2020 Division-II boys hockey state title. 

The fiery message prompted a parent to complain to the school co-principals and athletic director. Grout said within a few days, he was fired, and assistant coach Shawn Thompson was tapped to run the program for the season. Thompson later in March was cited for his second driving under the influence offense just days before the team was to play in the state championship. The school took no action in that case, letting him proceed to coach as planned that week. The team lost the final match to Brattlenboro and Thompson’s legal case is still pending.

Grout appealed his firing by Harwood Co-Principals Megan McDonough and Laurie Greenberg, both in their first year as Harwoodschool leaders. “Coaches must be held to the same standard as any paraeducator or licensed teacher,” the principals said in a statement at the time. “They are very strong role models and have huge influence in significant ways in the life of our youth.”

Superintendent Brigid Nease stood by the termination and Grout then took the matter to the school board. Over several meetings in March and April, the board in

 executive session met with the district’s lawyer and reviewed legal advice before deciding to hire an investigator. 

Many board members on Wednesday said they were satisfied to end the matter after hearing from the administrators last week and receiving word from the district lawyer Pietro Lynn who said the principals acted within their authority in firing Grout.  “It’s unfortunate that sometimes the public can’t know or understand the whole story, but that doesn’t change the facts that they did what was right and [what] I believe to be in the best interest of our student body,” said Waitsfield board member Christine Sullivan. “The community and people in the public are not going to be mollified by a report.” 

Some, however, argued to continue with an investigator to address public concerns. Fayston board member Theresa Membrino said she believed an investigation would support the principals’ actions. Kristen Rodgers of Moretown added, “I do think transparency is extremely important in this situation.” 

Ultimately, those siding with the administrators prevailed 6-5 with two abstentions; the board presently has one vacancy. In addition to Membrino and Rodgers, Waterbury board member Kelley Hackett, Lisa Mason from Moretown and Jonathan Young of Warren voted to continue with the investigation. The vote included a statement defending the administrators: 

“In the matter of the termination of the boys’ hockey coach, the Board concludes that the principals, athletic director and superintendent operated within their statutory authority regarding at-will employees. It is the administrators’ responsibility to make these kinds of employment and hiring decisions.”

Grout: No closure

Reached Thursday, Grout said he had received word about the board’s decision in an email from board Chair Torrey Smith. “She said she hoped this would bring closure,” Grout said. “Not even close.” 

Grout said he didn’t believe the matter warranted the time and cost of a formal investigation but it deserved a review. “I asked for a legitimate reason why this was the step taken and I still don’t have that answer,” Grout said. 

If a closer look was done, the former coach said, he believes it could reveal some valuable lessons for administrators and coaches in the future. For example, he said he and his supervisor, Athletic Director Chris Langevin, didn’t have an opportunity to address the complaint directly. And if his actions violated any policies, Grout said he never received a handbook with policies for coaches to follow when he started as a coach in 2019.
The former coach admits that although the incident was a first offense, he likely deserved some disciplinary action such as a suspension. He said his message with its harsh language was part of his coaching style to connect with the teenage players, and it wasn’t directed to denigrate any player or individual. “We are creatures who learn from our mistakes. Touch a hot stove? You don’t do that again. You tell me not to do this, it won’t happen again,” he reflected. 

Wednesday’s board decision to drop the inquiry did not surprise him. “Nobody thought they were going to overturn this,” Grout said of his termination. And even if the decision was reversed, Grout said he isn’t likely to have time this fall for coaching hockey. His plumbing business is very busy and his family has a new baby on the way.

One regret though, Grout said of the situation, is the message he feels the school’s treatment of him sent to his players and students at the school. “What lesson are they actually teaching these kids?” he asked. “That you screw up once and you’re done. You’re not heard.”