New London patrons state concerns with coaching hiring process

By MEGAN COOPER

Mt. Pleasant News

NEW LONDON ? All is not well at New London Community School District according to some local residents.

During Monday night?s New London Community School Board meeting, residents of New London approached the board during the public forum concerned about some issues that have been taking place at the school.

?I have been around this school district for 45 years,? said resident Barb Carmen. ?I am concerned for the first time about what is happening. I?m disappointed for the first time in my life. I?ve been around as a coach, volunteer, parent and grandparent and I?m seeing a lot of discontent right now. The basketball program for the boys has been in disarray for several years. No one has really complained and no one has done anything about it. Now, parents are threatening to pull their kids out and now changes are made.

?I think they were changes to appease and a band-aid for the problem. I don?t have anything against Bryant Porter, but the kids found out that hew as going to be the head coach and I?m not sure how he knew. They then opened the job (basketball coach) in-house and they knew that no one in-house would take the position,? said Carmen.

Carmen also stated that the job was never opened to the public, which in turn didn?t allow others who were qualified to apply for the position.

?I feel that Mike McBeth is qualified for the job,? said Carmen. ?But, because he never coached varsity boys? basketball, he didn?t get the chance to apply. He was a terrific coach in Mt. Pleasant, and he?s coached boys, like baseball and football. He does come on a little strong sometimes, but everything he has done and what he will do would be great, but he didn?t get a chance to apply. In my personal opinion it?s a vendetta against him. I urge you to table hiring the coach until you give the public a chance to apply and pick the best person for the job.

?I think you should base it off credentials, not a personal vendetta, and give everyone a chance to apply. Otherwise, by flip-flopping the coaches you aren?t doing the program any good,? said Carmen.

Following Carmen, former mayor Mike McBeth approached the podium and discussed his feelings on the way the district wanted to fill the basketball coach position.

?I expressed some concerns in the evaluation process and tried to find out who does it and does decision-making,? said McBeth. ?I finally got an answer and was to go through the process and I went and talked with the activities director (Chris Selby) and expressed my concerns with the basketball program and told her I was interested in the position of head coach if it were to open up.

?At this time, she (Selby) expressed to me that she was well aware of my credentials and I didn?t need to inform her anymore. I was the varsity girls? head coach here and Chris (Selby) was one of the middle school coaches. I was led to believe, through some emails which I still have, it might be something that could be pursued. I just needed to be patient. I took it as she needed to complete evaluations and so I was told to be patient. I felt there was a need to do something and get a direction for the kids, and it went from be patient to I could no longer discuss it because it was a personnel issue,? said McBeth.

According to McBeth, Selby did the written part of the evaluation and would share the concerns with the coach. The coach would then be given the next season to make the corrections.

?We know that that didn?t happen in football, because the coach wasn?t given the next season to make corrections. I asked who the administrative team was and it was Mr. (Steve) McAllister, Mr. (Todd) Palmatier, Mr. (Scott) Kracht and herself (Selby),? said McBeth. ?That administrative team would make the decision. I think that everyone should be involved in the evaluation process, not just having the final say. I have no hard feelings towards Mr. Porter, I think he could potentially be a great coach.

?You will be asked later tonight to approve Mr. Porter as the coach and others as assistant coaches. It gets puzzling to me as we go because I was told by Mr. McAllister what the criteria involved in finding a coach, but one criteria he threw in my face was that I had never coached high school boys? basketball, just girls?. I know the law and I have friends who know the law and I don?t think it?s exactly right,? said McBeth.

McBeth also expressed that he never got to the next criteria on the list because of his failure to meet the first one.

?If you don?t want to consider me for the job because you don?t like me, let?s get that out there. We need to do this for the kids and how will we know who is the best if the job isn?t opened up for others?? asked McBeth. ?You owe the kids to get the best. Don?t make the switch because it?s convenient. We hid things through this whole process.

?You will be asked to approve this later, and that?s fine, but Kracht, Palmateir, Selby and McAllister know the criteria. I didn?t get the job because I coached girls, and I hope you understand this. But if you vote yes, you will be voting that you realize that one of the criteria for hiring a coach is based on the sex the person coached. You guys need to fix this, the procedure. You guys run the school, not me,? finished McBeth.

After this part of the public forum, the board resumed the regular meeting. When it came to appoint personnel, the board agreed to table hiring Bryant Porter as head high school boys? basketball coach, Austin Burns as co-assistant high school boys? basketball coach and Curt Watson as co-assistant high school boys? basketball coach.

Board member Dennis Carter made the motion to table because he stated that he would like to see the same practice for hiring as others position saw.

?I want to see the full, correct way of hiring,? said Carter. ?I also think we should table the others until we find a head coach.?

More from the New London School Board will be in tomorrow?s News.