WEST BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Prep School sent home a letter on Tuesday notifying parents, staff, and students that the school's baseball coach Matt Petry had been fired.
The letter didn’t go into much detail but stated the following:
OLS has written policies that require communication outside the classroom with students via phone or text are solely for school and education-related matters. Mr. Petry’s termination was a result of not adhering to this policy.
“They are taking matters very seriously, so at least there’s that, but it is a bummer because you don’t know what’s going to happen with the baseball program,” said Shauna Hitchcock, a mom of four.
Hitchcock’s three boys aren’t in high school yet but they love the St. Mary’s baseball program.
“My kids, they just went to a baseball camp there this summer and they have their hopes set on St. Mary’s,” said Hitchcock.
Petry coached St. Mary’s baseball for 13 years and led the team to four state championships. Hitchcock says she was shocked and disappointed to hear Petry was fired.
“It’s very hard, especially when you have kids involved and you just want to have hope that there’s adults out there that can do the right thing,” she said.
Petry was also the director of admissions at the school. St. Mary’s hasn’t announced who will replace him. 7 Action News reached out to the school to learn more but they haven’t gotten back to us yet.
“I’m interested to see what they do with this if they’re able to pick themselves up, find a replacement coach,” said Hitchcock.
Whether it’s at the high school or college level, Hitchcock says she’s tired of hearing about prominent sports coaches being fired over alleged misconduct.
“I just wish that people in authority positions… could just learn something,” she revealed.
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident to determine if a crime was committed. They say they won’t be commenting further until after the investigation is over.
