The high school coach of a Syracuse football player has been accused of inflating the player’s math grades to help him get a football scholarship.

Joe Cipp Jr. allegedly altered the grades of Ryan Sloan, a freshman defensive tackle for the Orange, during Sloan’s senior year at Bellport (N.Y.) High School. Sloan denied the allegations in a statement through SU Athletics on Tuesday.

‘I worked hard to get to where I am today,’ he said. ‘I don’t know anything about this situation.’

Cipp denied the allegations made by Bellport’s former principal Kevin O’Connell, who claims he was fired after refusing to help change the grades. Cipp was the superintendent of the South Country Central School District at the time. He retired from coaching the Bellport football team at the end of last season.

O’Connell first accused Cipp and Assistant Superintendent Nelson Briggs of altering Sloan’s grades at the end of Sloan’s senior year. O’Connell could not be reached for comment.

Victor Correa, president of the district’s Board of Education, said in a statement the district investigated the claims at that time.

‘As a result (of the allegations) the district reviewed that student’s record as well as other students to insure (sic) that grades being transcribed were being done correctly,’ he said in the statement. ‘The review concluded that grades were accurate and that no malice regarding the recording of grades occurred.’

O’Connell made the accusations a second time in a notice of intent to sue the district, which Correa said the district is aware of.

‘Currently Mr. O’Connell represents himself in litigation against the district regarding his termination from his probationary position,’ Correa said in another statement Tuesday. ‘The district is confident that it will prevail in this matter but must refrain from public comment until the litigation dismissed.’

O’Connell said after a meeting with Cipp, Briggs, Sloan and his guardians, unidentified officials changed the lineman’s algebra grade from an F to a D, the New York Post reported Tuesday. The former principal told the New York Post Cipp was willing to go to extreme measures to raise Sloan’s grades. O’Connell claimed he was fired due to his refusal to alter the grades himself or direct a teacher to do so, according to the article

Cipp denied the allegations, according to the New York Post article, and released a statement of his own Tuesday regarding the grading practices at Bellport.

‘As a result of inquiries from the media today we began a further review of the academic practices of our high school,’ Cipp said in the statement. ‘It is paramount to our educational institution that the grading practices of the district be safeguarded at all times.’

He added he could not comment until he had that report, but told the New York Post that O’Connell ‘didn’t know what he’s talking about’ and that the allegations were ‘sour grapes from a guy who got fired.’

Sloan’s report card shows that he received a D in algebra during his sophomore year but also notes that he had ‘excessive absences and/or lates’ and ‘low grades on tests/quizzes,’ according to the New York Post article. His final transcript, however, shows a 76, according to the story, which is the equivalent of a C.

Cipp suggested in the article that those grades might have been raised through Sloan’s participation in summer school.

Correa said in his statement the district could not comment on an individual student’s grades.

‘Privacy issues regarding student records prevent us from commenting about any individual student’s academic performance,’ the school board president said in the statement. ‘The district does though stand committed to cooperate with any independent authorized body should further inquiry be needed.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on December 5, 2011 at 12:00 pm