Ojai School Is Divided Over a
Teacher's Past
Some staff and parents don't welcome the hiring of someone who helped
his father kill himself in 1996.
By Andrew Blankstein
Los Angeles Times
January 28, 2006
A bizarre murder in the Midwest a decade ago reverberated through the
elite boarding schools of Ojai this week, sparking a debate in the
small mountain town over whether offering a convicted man a second
chance as a teacher necessarily compromises student safety.
Shannon McCreery, 32, was hired this fall at Villanova Preparatory
School. But the school's headmaster told teachers and parents only this
week that the polite, soft-spoken man assigned to teach Virgil to
teenagers was also a convicted murderer who had killed his father in an
Illinois motel.
News that McCreery had stabbed his father in the chest and throat as
part of a family suicide pact fast made its way off the lush campus of
Spanish-style buildings with red-tile roofs, where annual tuition for
boarders nears $30,000.
As outraged parents planned a weekend meeting, headmaster Anthony J.
Sabatino spoke of the school's religious tradition — and of second
chances. He said McCreery had been upfront about his crime, which he
and others, including McCreery's former prosecutors, have described as
an assisted suicide. He also said the new Latin and public-speaking
teacher had worked hard to overcome his past. "We are a Catholic school
seeking redemption through faith in God, offering mercy to all who seek
forgiveness," Sabatino said.
Many teachers and parents, however, said that while they believe in
forgiveness, they are loath to have students share their
eucalyptus-shaded campus with a murderer.
"Could this guy have been a victim of circumstances? Sure," said Ron
Polito, father of two Villanova students, who also serves on the
school's finance committee. "But for me, a school is not the correct
venue or forum to offer redemption. There are other places where these
opportunities can take place."
McCreery, who is on a leave of absence from the school, served four
years' probation after pleading guilty in 1997 to second-degree murder.
He was in jail for eight months before his conviction. The
circumstances of his case are unusual.
The second of three sons, McCreery was born in Springfield, Ill., but
grew up mostly in Bethesda, Md., where his father, John McCreery, was a
successful attorney and law school professor. By the mid-1990s,
however, the family fell on hard times as the elder McCreery, a deeply
religious man, began to suffer from delusions, lawyers involved in the
case said.
Increasingly isolated, the family moved repeatedly — at one point
living in Santa Barbara — as John McCreery came to believe that the
devil was responsible for his problems.
In the spring of 1996, they headed from California to John McCreery's
home state of Illinois. It was then that he raised the possibility of
committing suicide. Family members decided to die together.
On Mother's Day that year, after the family went out for dinner, they
returned to the motel where they were living, intending to commit
suicide together. John McCreery went first. He asked for his son's help
in plunging a knife into his stomach. Once stabbed, he fell onto a bed
in pain, his internal organs exposed. Shannon McCreery, unable to watch
his father suffer, stabbed his father twice in the neck. Then he called
police.
McCreery, his mother and two brothers backed out of the suicide pact.
Jay Magnuson, who prosecuted McCreery, said in a phone interview that
McCreery was charged because "legally, he took a life." But he said
both sides agreed to sentence him to probation based on psychiatric
testimony that the whole family was suffering from a shared psychosis
at the time of the fatal stabbing.
McCreery was 22 at the time of his arrest. After his conviction, he
completed his college education, graduating with honors from Dickinson
College in Carlisle, Pa., where he studied classics. He held teaching
jobs at two private schools in Northern California before coming to
Villanova. He recently married.
Sabatino told teachers about McCreery's past in an emergency faculty
meeting Thursday afternoon. On Friday, he sent out a letter to parents,
officially informing them. "I made a conscious decision to hire Mr.
McCreery after discussion, reflection, and prayer, recognizing an
opportunity for a young man to have a chance to build up his life in a
Christian community," he wrote to the parents. "Based on Christian
compassion, I believe that I made the right decision."
As a new teacher, McCreery was required to be fingerprinted, Sabatino
said. The federal report that came back, however, stated that, because
of his violent felony conviction, he could not teach in a California
classroom. At that point, even though McCreery had been at Villanova
for only a little more than a month, Sabatino granted him a leave of
absence to try to expunge his criminal record by seeking a pardon from
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
McCreery attended his first hearing on his "petition for executive
clemency" in Springfield on Monday.
In an telephone interview, McCreery said he did not want to hurt
Villanova. He said he had aimed from the start to be honest. "I'm not
ashamed of my past," he said. "I've tried to overcome it. I have
fulfilled every requirement of the law. I haven't hidden anything from
anyone."
He remains close to his mother and two brothers, all of whom now live
in California.
Ojai's serenity, natural beauty and lack of big-city distractions have
also made it a favorite haven of reclusive celebrities. For more than a
century, the cozy town ringed by sweet-smelling orange trees has also
been home to top private schools, with students from all over the world.
Villanova Prep, which has 310 students, was founded by Augustinian
Fathers and Brothers in 1924 and describes itself as "the only
Augustinian coed boarding school" in the country. In addition to its
rigorous academic curriculum, it takes pride in instilling a sense of
social responsibility in its students. Students are required to perform
at least 20 hours of community service each year. Many do much more,
administrators say.
Few teachers and parents who spoke out against McCreery were willing to
do so on the record. Most said they were too scared. Teachers in
particular said they felt an overwhelming sense of betrayal because
Sabatino had failed to consult or inform them about McCreery's
background.
"In his desire to help Mr. McCreery, he [Sabatino] has damaged our
credibility as teachers and staff," said one faculty member who asked
not to be identified out of fear of retaliation, adding, "it's also
about the safety of students and all of us."
In October, after granting McCreery's leave, Sabatino sent an e-mail to
faculty members saying the new teacher needed to attend to a personal
matter. Sabatino wrote that he looked "forward to [McCreery's] eventual
return in the second semester."
This is McCreery's second attempt to clear his name. In 2002,
Republican Gov. George Ryan took no action on a similar request for a
pardon.
McCreery's effort has the backing of Magnuson, his former prosecutor,
who said, "He's made a success out of his life, and he hasn't had one
single act of criminal conduct."
Patrick W. Kelley, former head prosecutor and now an Illinois Circuit
Court judge, wrote that McCreery's criminal record was "an impediment
to his advancement and plans to help others."
All of McCreery's academic employers, including Sabatino, have lined up
behind him. Before coming to Villanova, McCreery taught four years at
West Bay Christian Academy in Redwood City, Calif., leaving only when
the school was forced to close because of financial problems. He then
went to Pinewood School in Los Altos, Calif., where he taught high
school math for a year.
In a letter to Illinois' governor, the principal of Pinewood's
elementary school, Gilbert P. Brady, called McCreery "the type of young
man that I hope my boys grow up to emulate."
Sabatino, in a similar letter, called McCreery "a natural teacher."
"I have offered him my support in hopes that he will receive a pardon
from you that will permit him the opportunity to continue his life as a
teacher in our school. I have no reservations in making this request."