Miami Valley School: Fired teacher, coach often ‘inappropriate’

Report cites ‘unwelcome touching, uninvited sexual advances.’ Attorney says Romeo denies allegations.

Miami Valley School leaders said Friday that an investigation revealed dozens of reports of inappropriate behavior by fired teacher and tennis coach Vin Romeo. But an attorney for Romeo called most of the allegations vague and nondescript, and others “ludicrously false.”

Romeo spent close to 40 years at the private K-12 school in Washington Twp., but was fired this spring after an MVS graduate reported that Romeo had engaged in sexual relations with her in the 1980s when she was a student.

A long letter sent Friday to the school community says MVS hired a New York consulting firm that investigated further, eventually speaking with 45 witnesses. It also reviewed emails, personnel files and social media accounts.

The letter says T&M Protection Resources found “38 reports of incidents of inappropriate behavior by Mr. Romeo over the course of at least 28 years,” including “a pattern of unwelcome touching, uninvited sexual advances, and sexually inappropriate statements.”

Asked to further explain those allegations Friday, Miami Valley School spokeswoman Jennifer Papadakis said the school would have no detailed comment other than the letter.

Papadakis said the school worked with law enforcement since receiving the initial complaint. No criminal or civil court filings against Romeo appear in Montgomery County court listings.

Ohio law requires school officials to report if they have “reasonable cause to suspect” that a child has suffered an injury or condition that indicates abuse or neglect.

The letter says the investigator used the “preponderance of evidence” standard used in many civil lawsuits, meaning available evidence makes it more likely than not that the incidents occurred.

The MVS letter from Head of School Jay Scheurle and Board President Diane Hirakawa said Romeo’s original firing was based on the 1980s complaint, with corroboration from another alumna, as well as a previous investigation of sexual harassment that landed Romeo on probation.

Romeo declined to speak with the investigator, but Jon Paul Rion, the attorney who spoke Friday on Romeo’s behalf, said there was a lack of due process.

“The ground rules that were set from Day 1 have been that Vin Romeo would not be given the specific allegations, the specific time frame or a specific individual, but was nonetheless asked to respond to general allegations,” Rion said.

“Romeo denies the general allegations. He denied the specific allegations that were originally brought forward (in April), and he continues to maintain that in his entire life and career at Miami Valley School, he acted in conformity with the expectations.”

But Scheurle and Hirakawa wrote that the investigation “has fully validated the school’s decision to terminate Mr. Romeo last spring.”

Romeo is a member of the local and state Tennis Coaches’ Associations’ halls of fame. He was inducted into The Miami Valley School’s athletic hall of fame in 2005, and has been joined there by two of his children. He also coached basketball at the school for 13 seasons.

Scheurle and Hirakawa also said the investigation brought to light reports of sexual misconduct by other former faculty and staff, but that “there was insufficient information available for the investigator to conclude that those allegations met the evidentiary standard.”

As a result of the probe, school officials said they are revising sexual harassment and misconduct policies to emphasize “appropriate boundaries,” developing new reporting procedures so students and staff are “comfortable sharing genuine concerns,” and creating new protocols for education and training.

Rion said Romeo has not ruled out filing a legal action of his own.

“He’s considering his options. He feels that he’s been maligned inappropriately,” Rion said. “To the extent that we’ve been able to determine specific allegations, those allegations are ludicrously false and without basis. Now we’re going into a second wave of general allegations that further discredit a person who gave his life to the betterment of the school community.”

About the Author