Easton School Board Fires, Then Rehires, Coaches

It was a scary night for coaches in the .

The school board on Thursday initially voted against retaining its coaches. 

But then, in a second vote, board members  reversed themselves and agreed to officially retain the district sports staff when they realized the move would mean a hold on fall sports, many of which begin practice in little over a month.

Expressing concerns including the diversity of staffing and the cost of salaries and pensions, board members initially declined the contract renewal Thursday evening by a vote of 2-4-1, with members Jennifer Holzberger and Kerri Leonard-Ellison voting in favor. Board member Jodi Hess abstained because her husband is a coach.

Members Pat Vulcano and Sarah Bilotti were not present.

School board president Kerry Myers said he had no problem with the salary, but with the choice of staff.

“I will not be voting to approve or recommend these coaches,” said EASB President Kerry Myers. “I have no issue paying what needs to be paid. My issue is with staffing.”

Myers said the coaching staff should more reflect the of the student population. He added that some coaches have not been as diligent with some students, particularly when it came to getting performance tapes to college coaches.

“There were problems with tapes not being sent,” he said.

Board member Pat Fisher said coach salaries are getting out of hand and retiring coaches salaries should be frozen.

“Some of these salaries are out of the range of the Lehigh Valley,” Fisher said. “This is not right to the taxpayers when these coaches work three to four months out of the year.”

Superintendent Susan McGinley said the salary rates are set contractually and renegotiating them for the coming year would be infeasible.

“We need to look at what's best for our students,” she said. “As we have openings, diversity needs to be kept in mind.”

EASD Director of Athletics Jim Pokrivsak said finding new coaches before the new season starts on August 3 would be near impossible, and a staff turnover wouldn't necessarily bring the district savings.

“Just because we get rid of a veteran coach doesn't mean we'll pay less for a new experienced coach,” he said.

Fisher moved to reconsider the matter.

“Please understand that you're leaving the schools without coaches,” she said.

On the second vote, the matter was approved, with Myers and board vice-president Tim Reilly voting against.

“I voted 'no' because I don't think what we're doing is best for students,” Reilly said, adding that he feels some coaches are not living up to their mentorship roles or pushing students to take the right classes to support a college career.

Hess said the actions of some shouldn't reflect on all the coaches.

“So don't penalize all the coaches, just the coaches who were doing it,” she said.

Pokrivsak said the department and coaches don't have the access to student records that guidance counselors do, but still tries its best.

“We are doing what we can within legal limits,” he said. “We are doing everything we can to get our kids into college.”