Here We Go Again! Co-Head Coaches To Remain!

WTF?????!!!!
You've GOT to be kidding me...right? Well...check the calendar boys and girls...April Fools is a week away yet.

The public got blindsided last night as 6 parents spoke to the school board last night expressing outrage that the district had already committed to continuing the co-head coach experiment for the boys varsity basketball team. Why had no one heard of this? Well the board and the district consummated the sordid deal within the confines of their private little haven, the closed session meeting on March 9, 2009:

School Board Minutes, March 9, 2009
11. Closed Session
11.01 Go into closed session for the purpose of taking action on closed session minutes of January 27, 2009; review performance evaluations of and consider employment of a public employee; consider the possible discipline of a public employee; and discussion and action on preliminary staff layoffs [Wis. Stats. 91.85(1)(b), (c) & (f)].

It was moved by John Whalen and seconded by Terry Shimek TO GO INTO CLOSED SESSION FOR THE PURPOSE OF TAKING ACITON ON CLOSED MINUTES (3) OF JANUARY 27, 2009; REVIEW PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS OF AND CONSIDER EMPLOYMENT OF A PUBLIC EMPLOYEE; CONSIDER THE POSSIBLE DISCIPLINE OF A PUBLIC EMPLOYEE; AND DISCUSSION AND ACTION ON PRELIMINARY STAFF LAYOFFS [WIS. STATS. 91.85(1)(b), (c) & (f)].

The result of the vote was: UnanimousYea: Jill Camber-Davidson, Caren Diedrich, Jim McCourt, Terry Shimek, AlSlane, David Stackhouse, John Whalen

THEN they met again last night....yep...under closed session again. Like they would want the public to catch wind of round 2 of this ludicrous affair.

Meeting: 03/23/2009 REGULAR SCHOOL BOARD MEETING (Revised) 7:30 p.m. at the Municipal Building, 300 E. Main St., Sun Prairie. Chair: David Stackhouse Category:
11. Closed Session Agenda Type: Action Agenda Item Content
Action Agenda Details Motion:TO GO INTO CLOSED SESSION FOR THE PURPOSE OF TAKING ACTION ON CLOSED SESSION MINUTES OF MARCH 9, 2009; REVIEW PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS AND CONSIDER EMPLOYMENT OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES; AND DEVELOP NEGOTIATIONS PARAMETERS WITH THE SPEA [WIS. STATS. 19.85(1)(c) & (e)].

Motion By:John Whalen Second:Jill Camber-Davidson
Action: Unanimous
Voting Record (7-0) Jill Camber-Davidson Yea Caren Diedrich Yea Jim McCourt Yea Terry Shimek Yea Al Slane Yea David Stackhouse Yea John Whalen Yea

Let's rewind the clock to August 27, 2007 when the school board first took action. As SP-EYE reported:

http://sp-eye.blogspot.com/2007/08/co-bball-head-coaches-it-will-be-school.html

"Caren Diedrich most eloquently framed her concern that co-head coaches was not a viable solution when she asked board president David Stackhouse how he would feel if he were suddenly forced to be co-president with Mary Ellen Havel-Lang. Caren...that comment was a 3-pointer with nothing but net!"

The STAR covered this issue in August 2007, when the board and administration first developed their ingenious (??!??) solution of BOTH head coaches after they got caught with their pants down:

STAR 8-7-08 on co-head coaches

At that meeting, Board member Caren Diedrich said,

" Diedrich reminded community members present at the meeting that the decision came from a signed settlement of a level three grievance between the district and teachers' union. The district could choose to renegotiate the settlement, but if they backed out of the settlement, the district could end up in court with a litigation on their hands.

"I agree with a lot of what you said, but I'm not going to re-open this can of worms for a situation that hopefully will resolve itself in a year," Diedrich said. "I think there comes a time and a place where we have to carry on." "

The co-head coach position description was finalized and again discussed as a ONE-YEAR SOLUTION as described in the August 14, 2008 edition of the STAR:

Sun Prairie STAR article 8-14-08

[School board President David] Stackhouse said he didn't want any other coaches now approaching him and stating that because the sport may have 80 players they should be eligible for a co-head coach because of the number of players and because a job description existed for it. He therefore amended the job description to be specific to the boys varsity basketball program, even though Culver explained it would only be for one year per the agreement between the board and the Sun Prairie Education
Association.

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Admittedly, detailed facts have yet to emerge, but early reports are that Mr. McClowry made his decision before interviewing any of the basketball team members. Despite the logic that a whole host of questions could be asked to evaluate the effectiveness of dual head coaches, it is reported that McClowry sent a survey consisting of ONE question to his players: "Did you receive more one-on-one attention by virtue of having two head coaches?"

Never mind the donuts, 220 Kit Kat bars[more later], and sea bass...this community is now paying TWO head coach salaries! How much sense does co-head coaches make for a team of 14 players? If it were so good an idea...don't you think Phil Jackson, Coach K, or Bobby Knight would have had co-head coaches? Yeah...RIGHT!

Once again, the school district chooses a ridiculous option after having their hand slapped for doing something inappropriate. And the school board ...that WE ...the community elected to represent us...sits idly by supporting administration.

Stand by for updates as we get them....