Former High School Coach Charged for Taking Off-the-Books Pool Rentals

Former Whitney Young High School swimming coach Andrew Parro was criminally charged for allegedly taking off-the-book pool rental payments from club swim teams, according to a report from the Chicago Public Schools inspector general, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times Monday. The school’s principal Joyce Kenner was also suspended.

Parro — who is now the head coach at the Illinois Institute of Technology — allegedly pocketed approximately $30,000 between 2013 and 2016 through a combination of subletting the school’s facilities when he was renting them, or renting them out at times he was not authorized to be there.

The Cook County state’s attorney’s office charged Parro last August with four felony counts of theft and a felony count of official misconduct, according to the Sun-Times. Parro pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance and is expected back in court on Jan. 27.

Parro has been barred from employment by Chicago Public Schools and from using the district’s facilities.

The inspector general’s report suggested a serious punishment for Kenner (possibly including termination), who had previously been issued a written warning for overlooking Parro’s behavior, but the board handed her a five-day unpaid suspension.

According to the Sun-Times, the inspector general’s report “showed that a representative from one of the groups informed the principal and assistant principal that she rented pool time directly from the school’s swimming coach, not the school.”

It added that Kenner “clearly maintained a very permissive approach toward the coach and his activities at the school.”

Both Kenner and Parro had previously been issued warnings in 2016, when an investigation found that Parrio had been allowed to rent the pool for $1.20 an hour for his own club. At that point, the board “started the process of cutting business ties with Parro, preventing the coach and his swim club from engaging in further business with the district,” according to the Sun-Times.

But as that process got underway, Parro pursued merging his club with another and obtaining use of the pool for the new group. Though the merger ultimately did not happen, Kenner helped secure use of the pool by the second team for a still-discounted rate of $25 an hour, which was also “far less” than the rate he had been pocketing to rent to additional teams.

Parro and the board had also previously settled on an agreement in which Parro would be “permanently barred from doing business with the district,” according to the Sun-Times. But shortly after, he allegedly hosted a for-profit swim meet for the two aforementioned clubs and earned $750 for working at it.

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Coachmommy
4 years ago

Am I understanding this correctly? Assuming the $30,000 was accrued over 4 years (2013,2014,2015,2016) it amounts to $7,500 a year. Not chump change, but if you divide it further into weeks, it’s about $157 a week. Which is less than $23 a day. While I’m sure he wasn’t renting out space all 365 days of any given year, this is truly a nominal amount of money as compared to all the legal fees which must have been generated to investigate this situation and press charges and additionally for a defense to be mounted. How much tax payer money was diverted from the school budget to pursue this? What’s the actual difference between what teams renting the pool space paid and… Read more »

Wowswim
4 years ago

Who was harmed by this

Becky D
Reply to  Wowswim
4 years ago

It’s kind of like renting your friend’s house on AirBnB while you’re supposed to be house-sitting. The renters (maybe you and your friends) get a sweet deal and you pocket the money. Your friend loses out on potential rental income, and is left exposed to all kinds of liabilities.

English
Reply to  Wowswim
4 years ago

That would be the school district’s taxpayers

Snarky
4 years ago

Pretty sad that so many posters on this thread think stealing $30k is just fine and dandy.

sven
Reply to  Snarky
4 years ago

It’s just collective relief that he didn’t sleep with one of his swimmers. Nine times out of ten, a SwimSwam title starting with “Former high school coach charged…” would end differently.

flygirl2021
Reply to  sven
4 years ago

Bingo

Swimmer A
Reply to  Snarky
4 years ago

Dude, that was our best hope of a diplomatic solution. We are so boned right now.

The Original Tim
4 years ago

Yeesh, we pay over $25 per lane hour here. How can I get me one of those $1.20 pool hour rentals?

S H
4 years ago

It’s robbery, and stealing from children.

Becky D
Reply to  S H
4 years ago

Yep. All the kids swimming for those clubs able to rent the pool for $25/hour are scarred for life.

First to the 25
Reply to  S H
4 years ago

How? Lower rental fees means a lower monthly fee charges to families, making the sport more available to lower income families.
Not saying he should get off with a free pass, but he was already reprimanded. Keep in mind, this case is four years old, and he is barred from working in the CPS for life… the real question is: why is the case being reopened?

The Original Tim
Reply to  First to the 25
4 years ago

The article doesn’t have enough info to say one way or the other if the swim families were charged less. He might have paid $1.20/$25 per pool hour, but either billed his own club or the sub-renters based on, say, $80 per pool hour.

Either way, unless his own club’s dues were based off that $1.20 pool hour figure, he pocketed way more money than he should have.

Daddy
4 years ago

Maybe if swim coaches/non-administrative school employees got paid, these things wouldn’t be an issue

hush puppies
Reply to  Daddy
4 years ago

You mean a 3k stipend for working 30 hours a week, over three months, isn’t fair!? Get out of town!!! Meanwhile, CPS teachers make 90k, and this principle was making 165k… Also, seems a bit far fetched that the principle would risk their position for a 5k bump (per year)… Sounds more like some parent/board member/new IG has a vendetta. The CPS has a budget of 5.6 BILLION dollars, and this 30k incident is a big deal? Give me some real news.

Mike
Reply to  Daddy
4 years ago

Stealing is Stealing. If one does not like the compensation they are getting in a certain career then find Another
career. …

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Mike
4 years ago

All the stealers downvoting here I see.

IMPerfect
Reply to  Daddy
2 years ago

STOP ADVERTISING YOUR IGNORANCE!!!

flygirl2021
4 years ago

On the scale of swim coach scandals, this is a zero

Swimmer A
Reply to  flygirl2021
4 years ago

This is like a 6 or 7. Obviously cases like Rick Curl or Sean Hutchinson are much bigger. But this coach worked an intricate scheme and stole $30,000 over several years. He’s being charged with 5 felony counts. I would not expect to see him coaching ever again.

Sccoach
4 years ago

Who snitched?

Steve
Reply to  Sccoach
4 years ago

6ix9ine smh

About Torrey Hart

Torrey Hart

Torrey is from Oakland, CA, and majored in media studies and American studies at Claremont McKenna College, where she swam distance freestyle for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps team. Outside of SwimSwam, she has bylines at Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, SB Nation, and The Student Life newspaper.

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