Trinity defends student to West Point

Trinity Area School District Superintendent James Dick and solicitor Dennis Makel sent letters and made calls to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in support of senior Ben Brownlee after an anonymous letter was sent criticizing his character for speaking out to keep district directors and fall coaches.
The issue came up at Thursday’s school board meeting when Brownlee’s parents and godfather questioned who wrote the letter painting the senior in a bad light and what the district was going to do about it.
Ed Brownlee, Ben’s father, accused board member Tamara Salvatori of sending the letter. He said the letter included copies of Facebook pages that his son set up in support of athletic director Ed Dalton and others at the school. He said Salvatori waved those pages in his face when she told him to stop his son from protesting to get Dalton’s job back.
If she didn’t send it, then she led someone to do it, he said.
“I want her resignation,” Ed Brownlee said. “This woman should not be allowed to be around our kids.”
Acting Superintendent James Dick said to the best of his knowledge, the letter did not come from the board. He said the board did not direct anyone to write the anonymous letter.
Because of the long executive session, Salvatori left before the planning meeting started because of a prior engagement. When contacted after the meeting, she said she did not send the letter to any one or any organization and that she was offended by the accusation. She called the allegation absolutely ridiculous because she would never send anonymous letters because she doesn’t think they go anywhere.
“Anonymous letters don’t carry any weight,” she said. “If I sent it, I would have signed it.”