School Board votes to dissolve sports combine

DAYTON–The Dayton School Board reviewed agenda-item proposals to dissolve the combined sports program and consider the resignation of Dayton-Waitsburg Athletic Director Sam Korslund before unanimously approving both action items at its November 16 meeting.

Korslund stated that he previously gave his two-week notice as the DW Combine Athletic Director and presented some recommendations for the Dayton Board to consider. He summarized the letter he sent to the superintendents of both school districts, citing a lack of communication or what he characterized as tense communications with the Waitsburg School Board and Superintendent Mark Pickel.

He gave an example of the Board thinking that he "had gone rogue," claiming he was pulling athletes from class without authorization, though he had been given permission from Pickel, who failed to communicate it to the Board. A board member also accused him of lying about an ultimatum that was given by Chairperson Christy House, though House admitted to it to after the accusation was made.

Korslund said what became clear to him then was that the Board was not communicating with each other or with him. At the time, they all agreed to move forward.

When registration for fall athletics was launched, there was an error in the documentation that Korslund made and corrected. He alerted the affected students and parents, as well as the administration and made the missing documents available to them.

One of the documents was returned to him from a Waitsburg board member with edits made to it despite it being previously approved by the Board. He forwarded it to Pickel and House and Korslund said he did not receive the supportive response he was anticipating.

He then became aware that the Waitsburg District was being lenient on the academic requirements for athletes, which when brought to their attention, was disregarded. He cited one example of a football athlete who was academically ineligible to play but was told by the principal to get on the bus to go play.

"The bottom line is I have lost my trust in the Waitsburg School Board and the Waitsburg administration," Korslund said.

"So, a little less than two weeks ago I submitted my resignation as the Combine Athletic Director to both superintendents," Korslund said, recommending both schools have an athletic director on-site but added that, based on the lack of communication of the Waitsburg School District, his recommendation "is to dissolve the middle school combine at the conclusion of the current boys' basketball season in advance of the girls' basketball season at the start of January and to dissolve the high school combine at the end of the school year."

Pickel acknowledged the receipt of the letter, but no other response was given. The Waitsburg School District also held a Board meeting that night and did not list the discussion of the combine on the agenda.

Superintendent Rich Stewart said that when he spoke with Pickel, it was decided to put the Combine on the agenda for the December meeting. He said they have had some "honest conversations" about the Combine. Stewart then recommended to the Board to dissolve the middle school combine when the boys' basketball season is over and to dissolve the high school combine at the end of the school year.

Chairman Jeff McCowen added that in reviewing the Combine overall, he recognizes some of the successes including the football and boys' basketball teams, but girls' sports have not seen that same success. The Combine is not working for all kids. He went on to say that it is not surprising the difficulty with this Combine in having two separate boards and administrations.

He has heard the comments and the recommendations made on the subject and is available to speak with anyone regarding the combine at any time.

Baseball coach Greg Crenshaw expressed concern that the programs will not survive without being a combine. He accused both boards of being overly focused on the dysfunction and that it would be a success in terms of the kids.

Director Aneesha Dieu said that she has reviewed the situation and has determined the negatives outweigh the positives and proceeded to motion to dissolve the middle school combine at the completion of the boys' basketball season and the dissolve the high school combine at the end of the school year. All voted in favor and the motion passed.

Korslund also provided his report and said that because of the large turnout of 38 players for middle school boys' basketball, they are now using the Preston Hall Gym for practices instead of the wrestling team that has seven for middle school and three for high school. He thought the wrestling team would practice on the upper deck of the Dayton gym. The sixth-grade basketball players will mostly be on their own team and Korslund has four games scheduled so far against Walla Walla middle school teams. Mainly seventh and eighth graders will make up the A and B squad teams. The high school boys' basketball team has 20 players.

Elementary Principal Amy Cox said the district is using MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) assessment testing. The Leadership Team has set the goal that 75% of students would show growth in two areas of four – English/language arts, math, science and reading fluency. She also shared the Title 1 evening event Around the World was attended by about 50 families and was held to learn about different counties and cultures with some hands-on activities and crafts.

Secondary Principal Guin Joyce reported that MAP testing is also used for students in sixth through twelfth grades. Middle school leadership students helped with the Around the World event and high school leadership continues working on their project of Spill the Tea with ASB. She said the sophomore class together with the Robotics ASB Club are doing a fundraising leaf raking project by donation only.

Joyce reported the monthly staff meetings consist of one for the Leadership Team, another for Vertical Teams to develop the professional learning community through collaborating for student success, professional development for all staff training in Social-Emotional Learning and Positive Behavior Intervention Systems and a general staff meeting.

The results of the survey for sixth grade students and their families indicated that parents valued the back-to-school event to support their child's transition to middle school. 92% of students reported they can manage their schoolwork and 87% said they felt they could ask their teacher for additional support. 77% reported they participate in sports and 59% said they participated in movie nights. The staff used the survey to improve communication and to plan for future events.