Leading off today: The Stuyvesant High coach driving a van that crashed in Vermont en route to a meet at Dartmouth could be fired for taking students on the trip without telling their principals,
The New York Post reported.
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said he is awaiting an investigation of Coach Erin Taylor, 29, by Commissioner of Special Investigations Dick Condon. Taylor, who was released from a Lebanon, N.H., hospital Wednesday with broken vertebrae, could be fired, fined or have a letter put in her personnel file if she is found to have violated Education Department rules, the paper reported.
She was driving eight athletes when the rented van swerved into a median on I-91 and rolled over, ejecting some students and trapping others.
Department spokeswoman Margie Feinberg said school principals were unaware of the trip beforehand. Chancellor's Regulation A-670 states, "All school trips must be approved in advance by the principal."
Junior Lucia Hsiao, who suffered a fractured neck bone, was released from a hospital yesterday, wearing a halo screwed into her forehead to immobilize her head. Teammate Valerie Piro remains hospitalized with paralysis below the waist.
Wrestling changes on hold: Last week's meeting to discuss possible changes to the qualifying procedure for the NYSPHSAA wrestling championhsips resulted in a decision to hold off on a vote until more feedback to the draft proposal can be gathered.
The plan calls for elimination of the current wild-card berths in favor of regional qualifiers the week before the state championships. Committee members have already suggested changes to te qualifying meet that would require reassigning some sections to different regions and possibly increasing the size of some fields.
Should the new format get all of the needed approvals