Central Dauphin East has turned to a familiar face to repair its fractured girls' basketball program.
Aaron Blanding, who also coaches football and lacrosse, was unanimously approved as the interim coach at Monday night's school board meeting.
Blanding replaces Larry Moore, who resigned last month after parents accused him of bullying and intimidation, and voiced concerns about a man with a criminal record attending a practice.
"It's going to be tough, and it's going to be challenging," Blanding said of bringing the Panthers' program back together. "But it's something (the kids) want to do. I want to see them repair their relationships off the court, and I think that will help them on the court."
MORE AFTER THE BREAK
Moore, a longtime Harrisburg High and CD East coach, said Monday his coaching days are likely over.
"I can't go another round with the 'helicopter parents,'" he said. "It's extremely tough."
Moore led CD East to a 24-3 record two years ago, but things began to unravel during a 12-11 run last season.
"Helicopter parents," in part, have driven longtime coach Larry Moore from Central Dauphin East's girls basketball program.
Following a season-ending loss on Feb. 16, Erica Rawls — the wife of principal Jesse Rawls — was cited for harassment after boarding a bus and grabbing the wrist of a player, according to a report by the Central Dauphin School District Police Department.
Erica Rawls, who has two daughters on the team, is fighting the charge and has a hearing set for May 25.
The incident was captured on a bus camera. Board president Ford Thompson told PennLive in late February that he viewed a video of an incident on a bus but would not comment on what he saw.
PennLive's right-to-know request to the district for the release of the video was denied, but an appeal was made Monday.
Central Dauphin School District rejects request for bus video involving principal's wife
Central Dauphin School District has denied a Right to Know request for the video and police incident report of Erica Rawls, charged with boarding a girls' basketball team school bus Feb. 16 and harassing a player.
Six days after the bus incident, Karen Patterson — whose daughter plays for the Panthers — asked the school board for the immediate dismissal of Moore and his staff, claiming some players felt "intimidated and bullied."
Two weeks later, Patterson returned and asked the board why Williamsport's Darrick Dixon — who pleaded no contest to charges he had sex with one of his players — was allowed to interact with the Panthers' players.
Dixon, a former Williamsport High girls basketball coach, was sentenced to 11½ to 23 months in prison and three years probation in June 2002 for two counts of statutory sexual assault and one count of corruption of minors.
Dixon's attorney, Steven J. Silver, said Dixon briefly worked with the CD East girls' basketball team, but that the clinic lasted less than a half hour. Moore was Dixon's coach at Williamsport and he asked Dixon to come by to show the team some defensive drills, Silver said.
One day after Patterson raised concerns about Dixon, Moore stepped down.
Blanding said he has been the head coach of the CD East football team for three seasons, and the lacrosse team for five. He also said he has 18 years of basketball coaching experience with 12 spent at CD East and six at Middletown.
"Time management and good assistants," Blanding said when asked how he planned to handle coaching three sports. "My assistants are great in every sport, and if I have to be somewhere else for something, I know we can stay on the same page."
Jesse Rawls attended Monday's board meeting, and, afterward, called Blanding "a great guy."
"He has always been the boys' freshman basketball coach, and he coached JV as well," Rawls said. "So, with his time commitments, and things like that, he knows how to handle all of that."
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