SKANEATELES – When the Skaneateles football team returns from a 17-month hiatus and begins practice on March 15, Joe Sindoni will once again be coaching them.
At an emergency meeting Friday night, the Skaneateles Board of Education approved Sidoni’s reinstatement, nearly two months after it had approved his dismissal.
This was just the latest twist in a saga that had begun in November when a group of alumni players got together for a “Turkey Bowl” game at Hyatt Stadium. While organized by the players, Sindoni attended and asked that they all wear masks and socially distance.
In the weeks that followed, dozens of COVID-19 cases emerged in Skaneateles and more than 100 students and teachers were quarantined, creating a controversy which spilled over into 2021.
Saying that Sindoni bore responsibility for that Turkey Bowl gathering, the school board in January decided not to renew his coaching position, a decision that was not made public for weeks.
When it did go public, community members took sides, some praising the board’s move, but many others, including current and former players and parents, criticizing them.
Sindoni, for his part, disputed the board’s decision-making process and sued in Onondaga County Supreme Court, where in February judge Gerard Neri ordered a temporary injunction requiring the board to allow Sindoni a chance to defend his actions.
While the school district appealed that decision and reserved the right to consider Sindoni’s status prior to June 30, it also continued to advertise for the varsity football coaching position without filling it.
Meanwhile, the school board met on Tuesday and, while approving coaches for girls volleyball, girls swimming and indoor track for the “Fall Sports II” season, approved football without naming a coach.
At the same time, another dispute arose over allowing football players to use the high school gymnasium for conditioning sessions.
With Sindoni’s attorney, John Cherundolo, saying the district was defying Neri’s orders and threatening to return to court next week, the school board reversed course from earlier in the week and rehired Sindoni.
The hope is to have two weeks of practices before a March 26 scrimmage against Bishop Ludden and a four-game season, beginning April 1 against Cazenovia and ending three weeks later at Buckley-Volo Field against those same Lakers, with trips in between to Solvay April 9 and Ludden April 15.
