MONESSEN – The Monessen School District is one of the smallest districts in terms of size in the PIAA. However, that didn’t stop the school district from fighting what seemed to be a war that was not winnable. But Monessen did receive a victory over the PIAA Saturday. That’s when the organization that governs sports from all school districts in the state repealed its Restitution Rule and, in the process, voted to return $6,000 Monessen was forced to pay in legal fees. Monessen was the only school in which the Restitution Rule was enforced against. The rule stated that any district, which loses a decision and appeals, is forced to pay both sides’ legal fees if the appeal is lost. In Monessen’s case, the district appealed a decision by the WPIAL in 1999 that former girls basketball player Nicole Naccarato was suspended for one game for a biting incident. The PIAA upheld the ruling and, under the Restitution Rule, Monessen had to pay its own legal fees, as well as the $6,000 fee the WPIAL had incurred. ‘It is a victory for the school district, but we should never have had to pay the fees in the first place,’ said Monessen Principal Randy Marino. ‘You can’t fight the PIAA with the restitution law. With that law they are keeping schools from challenging them. ‘This definitely closes a chapter in our book with the PIAA.’ Marino, who along with Monessen Superintendent of Schools R. Gene Malarbi, testified during the Senate hearings on the PIAA, said that while the repealing of the rule and the subsequent reimbursement to the school district is a victory the entire point in the issue was lost. ‘To get that money back is a victory, yes,’ he said. ‘But the point was lost in all the red tape. The point is that a student’s rights were violated. Nicole should have been permitted to play until her appeal was heard.’ Naccarato was suspended for one WPIAL playoff game. And even though the school appealed the suspension, she was forced to sit out the game. ‘We had already qualified for the state playoffs, so Nicole should have been allowed to play until the appeal was heard. If we lost it, then she could have sat out a PIAA game,’ said Marino. Marino stopped short of saying that Monessen’s fight against the PIAA on the matter was akin to David beating Goliath, but he did say that he was pleased with the repeal of the Restitution Rule. Monessen, through letters from Marino, lobbied against the rule with WPIAL (District 7) member schools. ‘It’s a small victory,’ Marino allowed. ‘But I believe there are bigger issues with the WPIAL and PIAA and Monessen that have not been addressed. And I don’t think the WPIAL and PIAA will address those issues either.’ That may be true, but you can bet that the PIAA won’t soon overlook the power of perseverance by one of its member schools in the future, even if it’s a tiny district like Monessen.

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