NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Chrissy Stanionis, last year’s Journal News Coach of the Year, is out after more than two decades as one of the most successful high school cheerleading coaches in New York State. The move comes a month after investigators from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office began a series of visits to offices of the City School District of New Rochelle in City Hall and began examining Athletic Department financial records.
Stanionis said that New Rochelle Athletic Director Steve Young told her that he was not renewing her contract because he was not happy with the ways things were going and not satisfied with “the culture” around the program. The New Rochelle High School Cheerleading Program is one of the most successful programs in the United States.
Asked about the culture, Stanionis stated she was not aware of any “culture” issues that may have led Young to end her 22-year career in New Rochelle.
Talk of the Sound has learned that DA investigators looking into financial fraud in the Athletic Director’s Office met with Joseph Williams, Assistant to the Superintendent for Human Resources on March 30th. The investigators then spent several hours in the Carew Room at City Hall reviewing files and folders obtained from the District’s Business Office. Investigators have been back several times since.
Fraud in the AD’s office first came to the attention of the District Attorney after a coach working for the District filed a criminal complaint alleging that Marisol Martell, the senior AD Office administrator working under Young, forged a signature on a payroll check and pocketed the proceeds.
Martell was “unexpectedly resigned” on March 2, after a criminal complaint was filed by a coach at the high school alleging that Martell stole the coach’s check and deposited it into her account.
Martel was questioned at City Hall by DA investigators as part of the ongoing investigation.
Talk of the Sound reported several years ago that some cheerleading parents expressed concerns over loose accounting of the funds used to finance trips to competitions as far away as Florida and the use of those funds to pay for friends of Stanionis to travel to Orlando and for parties where alcohol was served on school trips to the Cheerleading National Championships in Orlando, FL.
Stanionis said she was unaware of any financial issues. She added the her program is funded by a seperate 501(c)(3).
Talk of the Sound has reported on numerous other instances of financial improprieties in the AD’s office over the years.
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