Many Rally Behind Fired Swim Coach

Lately, Larry Raffaelli has found that a five-minute trip to the supermarket can end up lasting half an hour.

While out on such errands, he said, parents or students often stop him to express outrage at his firing after 28 years as coach of Oxnard High’s swim and water polo teams.

Neither Raffaelli nor school officials would say why he was fired. But students said Raffaelli told them he was terminated because of his abrasive coaching style.

His supporters rebut that assertion, saying the coach was tough but caring.

While Raffaelli has retained his job as a science and physical education teacher, a number of supporters--including Oxnard Elementary School District trustee Susan Alvarez--have pounded a steady drumbeat of protest at school board meetings and with letters to school officials and newspapers.

“They probably thought it would go away, but we’re not going to let it go away,” said Norma Breda, a former swim student of Raffaelli’s whose daughter also swam for him this year.

“He loves those kids,” Breda said. “He loved us when we were there. He wants to teach it properly and wants people to develop a love of water. He instilled that in me today as he instilled that in my daughter.”

The outpouring of support has surprised Raffaelli, well known for his efforts to install an Olympic-sized pool at the new Oxnard campus.

“I didn’t realize how much support I had,” Raffaelli said recently from his Oxnard home. “I’m thrilled that people I’ve coached so many years remember what I did for them. . . . I can’t imagine what it would be like to have something like this happen to you and not have the support.”

Principal Daisy Tatum, who made the decision to fire Raffaelli, declined to talk about the matter.

Trustees with the Oxnard Union High School District also refused to comment.

“I can’t say a word about it,” trustee Nancy Koch said. “We can’t talk about anything related to personnel or else we are in big trouble.”

One person who has been highly critical of the firing is Alvarez. Because she has a daughter on the team, Alvarez has attended almost all the swim meets during the last two years.

Alvarez and a number of other backers wondered whether Raffaelli was fired for continually pushing the district to provide the Gonzalez Road campus with an Olympic-size pool, which is scheduled to open next spring.

“If a person has been coaching for [28] years, does it seem unusual that he is fired after taking an active role to get a pool at Oxnard High School?” Alvarez asked in a letter to the editor. “Or is it just bad timing?”

Raffaelli’s supporters are demanding he receive the chance to continue coaching, which he has done year round for about $3,800 on top of his salary of about $54,000.