SOUTH WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — Students who were part of Parkland School District's theater program are speaking out about their time with a former administrator charged with secretly recording a student while he changed in a dressing room.
They say even beyond the criminal charges, issues exposed by the allegations should be lessons for Parkland — and other school districts.
Francis "Frank" Anonia, 43, was charged last month with multiple counts of invasion of privacy, criminal use of a communication facility, and other offenses, according to court paperwork.
Several alums who had been close with Anonia spoke with LehighValleyNews.com in recent weeks.
They described him as a controlling figure who was verbally abusive, played favorites and interfered in their relationships.
And they say complaints they made about Anonia during their school years fell on deaf ears.
Anonia is free on bail pending a preliminary hearing Nov. 26.
He has not responded to efforts by LehighValleyNews.com to contact him. His attorney in the criminal matter, Kenneth Edelin, did not reply to messages left by a reporter.
Anonia originally was put on leave from the school district in April, around the time 29-year-old William Marshall, a former Parkland student who lived with Anonia and was described by police as his fiance, was sentenced in Lehigh County Court for possession of child pornography.
Anonia’s role in the case and details of his deposition have not been made public.
Anonia was Parkland High School's choral director from 2007 until he was promoted to performing arts director in 2021. Before that, he was the director of choral activities for Whitehall-Coplay School District.
'Should never have gotten to this point'
Alex Atiyeh, a 2018 alumnus of Parkland's theatre program, was quick to voice his thoughts on social media following the revelations, with many friends and former peers voicing sympathy and support in the comments.
"Disgusted is an understatement," Atiyeh wrote. "With the crap we dealt with as kids in that department before this even occurred… I don’t even wanna know.
"Glad this wasn’t swept under the rug. Love goes out to whoever this was about. Always listen to your kids out there is all I gotta say. Should never have gotten to this point."
Speaking to LehighValleyNews.com, Atiyeh elaborated on his experience with Anonia, saying he played favorites and, as a director, often verbally abused students.
Atiyeh said that in the days since the revelations, he had been able to reconnect with other students and discuss their time with Anonia, and the difficulties present even before the allegations arose.
"It's just like, I get nauseous, I get angry," Atiyeh said. "Some days I'm mostly angry. Just overall, to be honest, I just get, like, fired up."
Atiyeh said he was close to Anonia during his time in the program, and "definitely on the favorites side."
That, he said, led to a lot of anxiety during high school because Anonia had public bursts of anger at students while expressing significant favoritism among those in the arts programs he oversaw.
Atiyeh said Anonia "pit us against each other. He ruined friendships."
Even with that, Atiyeh said he was "definitely shocked" with the charges made that Anonia had secretly filmed students.
'A long time to separate'
Reese Diaz shared the stage with Atiyeh during his time at Parkland, and now is a professional actor on stage performing in the tour of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."
Diaz noted an atmosphere of severe favoritism and harshness during his time at Parkland.
He said it was difficult to reckon with, given the success and acclaim of the program at events such as the Freddy Awards, and how it set him up for his own career.
"[I] lost almost all of my high school friendships due to his influence."Reece Diaz, former member of Parkland student theater
"It took me a long time to separate all the like, the good he has done for me from all the harm he's caused me and my peers," Diaz said.
"It's easy to feel dramatic and crazy when it's like, 'Oh he yelled at us, he cursed at us.' But when it's like an objective, 'He took a video of a student,' that it's easier to put everything into perspective in that way."
Diaz also said complaints from students made about Anonia's behavior were "kind of just brushed under the rug."
He said Anonia also at times was overly involved in students' personal lives — monitoring them and trying to exert control over their social media and intimate relationships.
Diaz said nothing physical happened with him and Anonia, but said there at times was an almost familial closeness between them that had him feel somewhat isolated from his peers.
He said he now reflects on that as inappropriate, but never felt in any danger.
Diaz also made a public post on social media highlighting his experience with Anonia in which he spoke about the inappropriate intimacy of his relationship with the director.
He said he "lost almost all of my high school friendships due to his influence."
"[Teachers] have so much power, and you are in charge of so many children who do not have a full grasp of relationships and how life works," Diaz said.
"It is very important that you keep that in mind and don't let your own ego or whatever get in the way. It's a very delicate time, and it should be a safe space."
Both Atiyeh and Diaz said they had developed and were treated for chronic anxiety they in large part attributed to their experiences with Anonia.
Community coming together in response
Carter Sachse was a cast member of the production of "Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat" during which Anonia is alleged to have illegally filmed a student in a dressing room.
"I was obviously shocked, because I always gave him the benefit of the doubt," Sachse said.
"I always wanted to believe that he was a good person wrapped up in some pretty, pretty rough circumstances. But I believed he cared for the students and everything.
"But then as the days went by and I started hearing more and more, it gave me the opportunity to kind of step back and look at my time at the high school, and we were manipulated so much when we were there."
Sachse said that at times he was very grateful for the high standard to which students were held, but also said Anonia's competitive direction was "toxic on a number of levels."
He said students often were pitted against each other, battling over who could be the favorite.
Since the revelations, Sachse said, a lot of people have reached out to him about the allegations of secret recordings in the dressing room, and he said he has seen people in the community rallying around those in the theater program.
"There's a comfort in knowing that we're all, like, banding together here, you know, and justice is finally being served for some, you know, really, really terrible things."
Sachse said he "wasn't entirely shocked" by the prior revelations about Marshall, but that he was still "mortified" because of Marshall's occasional work with the high school and on shows.
Other students interviewed previously but who didn't want their names published said Anonia had been emotionally abusive to theatre participants.
They also said there was a lack of action by Parkland School District officials regarding students' concerns about Anonia's treatment.
Some also expressed concern about Anonia's closeness with Marshall and his close working relationship with Willman.
Parkland School District officials said that limited information is available publicly because of personnel and legal matters involved.
But Superintendent Mark Madson, who joined the district in 2021, made a statement after Anonia's arrest calling the dressing room allegations "shocking, disturbing and inexcusable."
Anonia also for many years served as musical director and conductor for the Freddy Awards, the regional high school theater awards program held annually at the State Theatre in Easton.
He was removed from that role this year as soon as he was placed on leave by Parkland School officials, according to Freddy organizers.
"Our procedures are and protocols have been in place since the very beginning of the Freddy awards," said Shelley Brown, chief executive officer of the State Theatre and executive producer of the Freddy Awards.
"I'm watching this along with everybody else."
Students cite history of issues
Atiyeh and other students said during his time there were complaints made to other school officials about Anonia's treatment of students.
"I'm just upset that it got to that point with how vocal some of us were as kids in that school," about his treatment, he said.
"You've just got to listen to kids, even if you're skeptical at first — you never know. It's a shame with how vocal we were with guidance counselors, anybody — nothing was done."
But Atiyeh also acknowledged that while some parents had spoken against the current superintendent and board, "if anything, this superintendent, [these] people on the board now, what they're doing, what they did is more than whatever the previous superintendent did and all the other teachers that were at that school during our time and before."
He said transparency was needed, but he understood there were significant limitations because of the criminal investigation.
'Can't let the product overtake the journey'
Sachse said he still has a sibling in the program, and wants to make clear that he thinks "the school is doing the absolute best they can" to keep students in the loop as more information comes to light.
"I think a lot of people right now are very angry, and they're pointing fingers at the school, not understanding that there's legal limits to the information that they're able to provide," Sachse said.
"The community you build to make the product — that's what's more important. And I think that's where it kind of got away from us for those years [Anonia] was in charge. It became about the product, rather than about the teaching and the community and the support."Reese Diaz, former member of Parkland student theater
"They're getting emails, the students were offered counseling, they had a department meeting where the whole theater department got together to talk through everything.
"And I know for a fact that the people who still remain at the high school, as far as the educators go, they are wonderful, wonderful people.
"And I want to stress that to the community and anybody who might be reading this, that the blame cannot, should not, be placed on the people that are there currently, because they give their all for those students.
"Never once have I felt manipulated by the people who still remain at that school."
Diaz said one of the best parts about Parkland is its support of the arts, and he hopes that doesn't stop.
But he said it can't just be about the work the program produces.
"You can't let the product overtake the journey to get there," Diaz said.
"The community you build to make the product — that's what's more important. And I think that's where it kind of got away from us for those years [Anonia] was in charge.
"It became about the product, rather than about the teaching and the community and the support.
"And I hope that theater programs, that Parkland's and others in the area and across the country, can look inward and hope that they promote that culture, rather than a culture of 'Put on the best show.'"
