OXFORD, Conn. - The Oxford public school system will paint over an
Oxford Board of Education Chairwoman Paula Guillet said the board had from the Greak Oak Middle School gym in December but wanted to wait until a final report had been completed about the Penn State sexual abuse scandal.
“We wanted to make a decision based on facts and not hearsay,” she said.
A 267-page report about the Penn State sexual abuse case that was released Thursday by former FBI Director Louis Freeh says Paterno did not do what he should have to protect children from serial child molester and former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, 68, who was convicted of molesting 10 boys over several years.
About 20 years ago, someone painted Paterno’s picture and a quote by the late coach, who was once an iconic figure in college football and beyond, alongside other well-known Americans at Great Oak. The quote says, “My best team will be the one that produces the best doctors, lawyers, fathers and citizens, not necessarily the one with the best record. Let’s keep it in context.”
Guillet said Monday, hours after Oxford Patch ran an article about the issue, that she had been leaning on taking it down but didn’t want to speak for interim Superintendent John Reed when a Patch reporter asked her about whether it would be taken down on Friday. On Monday morning, other news organizations began inquiring about the Paterno picture and quote, Guillet said, adding that Reed is in agreement that the painting should be removed.
Guillet said the issue was going to be discussed at this Tuesday’s school board meeting but there is probably no need now.
“The bottom line is, Great Oak is a school, and we need to put kids first and (Paterno) didn’t do that,” she said.
