Decades-old sex-abuse claim against assistant coach puts focus on Nyack schools
UPPER NYACK − The Nyack school board on Tuesday, Jan. 23, plans to vote on a resolution to strike the name of a former varsity baseball coach from the home field and scoreboard, scrap a scholarship in his honor and cease a memorial tournament named after him.
At the root of the push by a group of former Nyack baseball players to remove former varsity coach Dave Siegriest's name: accusations of child sex abuse against his longtime assistant coach, Peter Recla.
Why is this all coming up now? And what does it have to do with Siegriest, who died in 2006 at age 43 of pancreatic cancer?
Siegriest was the head coach when the alleged incidents occurred. While no one is accusing him of abuse, former players have said he was, at best, negligent.
Child Victims Act brings complaint
Recla was accused of abuse in a 2020 Child Victims Act summons filed by a former varsity baseball player, Patrick D'Auria. The Child Victims Act opened a "look-back" period for civil suits claiming sex abuse of minors, even if the reported incidents happened long ago.
The summons names the Nyack school district and the Nyack school board and alleges acts of grooming and abuse by Recla from 1996 to 2000. The district and board, according to the summons, should have known D'Auria, then a student, was in danger and were charged with keeping him safe.
The district's insurer settled the case in 2022. A settlement amount was not revealed in public records.
Recla hasn't served as a coach in the district since 2007. According to lohud.com articles, Recla had been named head coach after Siegriest's death but was dismissed after a year.
Attempts to reach Recla, 60, were unsuccessful.
The accusations in the Child Victims Act filing opened a floodgate of reactions. Some former players who stood by D'Auria contacted the district to demand a full investigation of Recla.
The group of former players pushing for Siegriest's name to be removed call themselves Nyack Baseball Alumni for Truth, Transparency & Support. They also want a full accounting of what happened back in the 1990s and the board's actions now.
That includes whether Siegriest, who had coached with Recla for some 20 years, knew or should have known about any abuse or allegations of abuse.
D'Auria said in a phone interview that he initially wasn't aware of the former players' demands to the board. "I had no idea they were working behind the scenes to get more answers and get some accountability,' D'Auria said. "It moved me. I had felt so alone with this for a long time."
How did Siegriest become a focus?
No criminal charges have ever been filed against Recla. The accusations in the civil complaint made under the Child Victims Act in 2020 are long past any statute of limitations for criminal charges.
Several former players and members of the community have said a full reckoning of what happened in the 1990s is needed as a measure of justice and healing. The Siegriest resolution, they say, is one step.
"There were many people who failed us back then." said Matt DeSimone, 43, who played Nyack Varsity baseball from 1996 to 1999.
He's one of more than 100 former players who have signed a petition by Nyack Baseball Alumni for Truth, Transparency & Support that demands action. The removal of Siegriest's name from key Nyack spaces and honors is just one item listed in the petition.
But others in the Nyack community say that Siegriest is the wrong target.
Their petition, to keep Siegriest's name, has been signed by some 1,200 people. It includes signatures of some former varsity players too, said Margaret Siegriest, Dave's widow.
Margaret Siegriest said the situation has been a struggle. “Honestly it’s like burying my husband all over again," she said in a phone interview. "It’s horrendous.”
Given the accusations of abuse against Recla, the focus should be on the alleged perpetrator, Margaret Siegriest said.
As for what happened back then, she said, "I have absolutely no knowledge, nor did my husband, if any of that took place." She added: "He’s not here to tell you that."
Difficult to reconcile
Since D'Auria's Child Victims Act case went public, several former classmates say they have contacted the district. Several have said they or their parents raised concerns about Recla with Siegriest back then.
Some have wondered how Siegriest couldn't have questioned some of Recla's interactions with students. Spencer Witte, Nyack High School Class of 2000, is among them.
"Dave Siegriest had the benefit of pattern recognition, of someone he worked with for 21 years," Witte said. As gym teacher at Upper Nyack Elementary, Siegriest provided safety lessons to students. "He taught stranger danger, showed a video where you are told to look somebody in the eye and say ‘no means no.’ "
Witte was co-captain of Nyack's baseball team with D’Auria and Steve Wanamaker. Now 42, Witte owns an analytics firm that consults with Major League Baseball teams.
He and other Nyack Baseball Alumni for Truth, Transparency & Support members admit it is difficult to reconcile the past, especially as Siegriest cannot explain or defend himself.
Witte said he has sympathy for the Siegriest family. “This is really hard for all of us.”
D'Auria said he understands the conflict and confusion. "I can do the mental gymnastics in my head," he said. But he believes reconciling the past is important.
"In some small way, we can heal as community, heal as players," said D'Auria, who played college ball at SUNY Cortland but now can’t even watch a baseball game.
Who knew what, when?
People who both support and oppose the board's proposal to erase Siegriest's name from key sites have criticized the school board and district leadership for its handling of the situation.
The district has had three superintendents since 2020, when the Child Victims Act summons was filed. The current superintendent, Susan Yom, took over in March 2023.
The Nyack school district first publicly spoke about the Child Victims Act settlement in October 2023. Then in November 2023, a board statement said Recla had been banned from school properties but didn't say when that took effect.
Nyack schools officials have said the settlement was reached by the district's insurers, and didn't require a vote or input by the board.
It remains unclear when members of the Board of Education were informed of the Child Victims Act summons.
When asked last week about specifics of the timeline of the Recla investigation, the district referred USA Today Network to fall 2023 communications.
What's the status of investigation?
The board is expected to vote on a resolution to remove Siegriest's name from the field and other places at its next board meeting, now scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 23, after the Jan. 16 snowstorm postponed that night's meeting.
But other demands in the Nyack Baseball Alumni for Truth, Transparency & Support petition haven't been as clearly answered.
Specifically, the board has not detailed further investigations of Recla or said why the resolution is on Tuesday's agenda.
According to Nyack school officials, any criminal investigation would be done by Clarkstown police, who had been informed of the Child Victims Act filing.
Clarkstown Police officials have not provided an update into any investigation involving Recla to lohud.com.
Witte said the former players are frustrated by the district's handling of the situation, including using its own lawyer as investigator. "The school board has mishandled this throughout," he said. "It's a source of frustration, and frankly, pain for us."
Margaret Siegriest, too, would like to know more about the investigation and the Board of Education's actions. "What information came out to put this resolution up for a vote?"
Echoes of high-profile cases
Several have likened the situation to that of Joe Paterno, the legendary Penn State football coach who was dismissed after revelations that longtime defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, had abused minors.
But John D. Scott, a 1997 Nyack grad and three-year varsity baseball player, likens it to the way USA Gymnastics treated the young athletes who first came forward to report abuses committed by sports medicine physician Larry Nasser.
"Being called liars," he said of the athletes who reported abuse by Nasser.
It took more than 10 years from the first reports of abuse to USA Gymnastics cutting ties with Nasser. Former Olympic gymnasts recounted that an FBI investigation was botched, further victimizing them. Victims said they were shunned rather than believed.
Nasser remains in prison with a de facto life sentence after myriad federal and state guilty pleas.
Scott and other alumni say the current battle brings up complex emotions, but they believe it is the right thing to do.
"There was nothing I loved more than being a Nyack baseball player," Scott said. "Without Siegriest, I don’t play college baseball. Without Recla, I don’t play college baseball. That’s not what this was about." Reflecting on Siegriest, Scott added: “He’s a good man who did a bad thing."
DeSimone, now an accountant, nodded during a ZOOM interview. "Two things could be true at once."
Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy for lohud.com and the USA Today Network New York. Reach her at ncutler@lohud.com; follow her at @nancyrockland on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Threads.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Child sex abuse accusations in Nyack school district surface
