Can they fire JoePa?
Absolutely! In fact, in my opinion, they should have fired him years ago. While it is probably true that he has a contract, failing to report child abuse is most certainly a violation of his contract. Of course, to the extent that his superiors also failed, perhaps he’ll have an argument that they are stopped from making this argument. Any management side attorneys out there want to articulate that argument.
I think the Board of Trustees should all be fired. They too had a duty to act as soon as they learned of these allegations. There is no reason for them to have waited until the criminal investigation was closed. They could have and should have immediately done their own internal investigation and fired everyone involved. Their failure to do so puts blame at their feet.
Shame on them.