YMCA board standing by Whitworth

The Melrose Free Press called for Whitworth and vice president Nancy Madden to resign in an editorial last week. The paper said the two have harmed the YMCA by staying on in the wake of a child sex abuse scandal.

Whitworth and Madden did not return calls seeking comment.

James Conner, 51, the former YMCA site coordinator of the after-school program, was arrested at his home Feb. 12. Conner was indicted on five counts of rape of a child by force, among other charges. Conner, of North Reading, is free on $25,000 cash bail but under monitoring by global positioning system.

After the arrest, an investigation by the state Department of Early Education and Care found that Melrose YMCA administrators "failed to protect children from abuse."

The state report found that YMCA administrators hired Conner after learning of allegations of inappropriate behavior at other facilities.

They also kept him on staff last year, after he signed an agreement to stay away from a girl who attended the Melrose program, according to the report. Prosecutors allege Conner sexually abused the same young girl as she rode with him in the back of the bus to the after-school program.

Patricia Wright, a local attorney, has announced plans to organize a protest to demand Whitworth's ouster, possibly outside the office of board chair Mary Sexton. Wright and Sexton did not return calls seeking comment.

The North Shore Tab, a local blog, has reported that parents have moved their children from Melrose YMCA programs to offerings at the Malden YMCA.

Bailey dismissed the report in an interview.

"You're getting your information from a blog," Bailey said, while conceding that some children have transferred to Malden. But he, said, that happens for a variety of reasons, including family relocation, children moving up the age ladder, and healthy competition between the two organizations.

He said the Melrose YMCA did not track the number of children that have left for Malden, though he knew how many families had recently enrolled or reenrolled in programs at the Melrose YMCA : 109.

Whitworth told the Globe last week that 130 parents had contacted him about enrolling their children in fall after-school programs.

The Tab has also cited unnamed patrons claiming that YMCA administrators have ignored a spate of recent locker room thefts. Bailey said just one incident on June 11 - when a vandal broke into a state trooper's car and locker - has been reported.

Melrose Police Chief Michael Lyle said Chief Michael Lyle said that since June 1, the department has received one other report of theft at the YMCA, of a boy whose scooter was stolen from a bike rack.

Several members of the YMCA board, which has the sole power to remove Whitworth and Madden, did not return calls seeking comment. Two board members, Frank Nestor and Steve Anderson, declined to speak on the matter when reached.