Assistant Coach at Edgartown School Arrested for Indecent Assault on a Child

Daniel P. Parker of Tisbury was arraigned today on three counts of assault and battery on a seven-year-old boy.  Superintendent James Weiss barred Parker, an assistant boys basketball coach at the from all Island schools immediately.

The victim of the alleged assault is an Island resident, but not an Edgartown resident or a student at the Edgartown School; police and school officials are not releasing the town where the victim lives.

Weiss said of the event, “This is a very tragic situation for our Island community, no matter what happens. There is a student involved and a family involved, this is a tough time.”

Edgartown School principal John W. Stevens sent a letter to parents on Wednesday letting them know the details of the situation as soon after the arrest as possible.  “I urged parents to talk to their kids about things like confiding in adults and the difference between good touches and bad touches,” Stevens said.

Parker was an assistant coach for the school’s JV basketball team.

“For more than one reason, his season is over now,” said Stevens who stressed that the incident did not happen on school campus.

Weiss confirmed that there are no additional allegations stemming from any of the students at the Edgartown School.

“The school remains a great place to learn and one of the safest places to be," said Stevens.

Stevens plans to meet with the basketball team members who are practicing for the playoffs to discuss the situation with them. He will let them know that Parker is no longer associated with the school and that he won’t be attending any practices or games.

“You have to frame it very carefully and tactfully,” said Stevens. “These are 6-8^th graders and you have to think about this from their frame of reference and filter what you say through that. “

Stevens hopes that this event will spawn conversations that parents and teachers should have with kids.

“The more conversations we have, the more awareness we create and the more we’re cognizant of what’s around us and what’s inappropriate, the safer we make things for our kids,” he said.

He noted that coaches are often listed as the kind of adult kids can go to when they are looking for someone to confide in.

“This invades that territory of certainty of who you can trust, which is one of the reasons it is such an unfortunate event. He was definitely someone that kids had a relationship with as a coach. We have to balance it out by helping them understand that there are things that are appropriate and things that are not. If someone you trust acts in an inappropriate way, you have to go to someone else you trust and tell them. This is a hard thing for anyone to figure out, but especially hard for kids, which is why we have to keep talking to them about it,” said Stevens.