Spring Sports Survey Less than Stellar

by Rachel Dahl -- Attendance at the last school board meeting, June 12^th was high, with several members of the girls softball team and their parents in attendance. Brad Daum presented the results of the spring sports parent/athlete survey and announced that “since the beginning of the parent/athlete surveys, this spring survey had the most negative comments…the main concerns and negative comments came from softball.” Before Daum made his presentation, attorney Sharla Hales explained (by speaker phone, as she was not in attendance) "to the board and members of the public, the intent of the survey is to look at all the result and all the sports, not specific sport or specific coaches, but take the survey results in total.” She pointed out to the board “that’s where their comments and questions should focus, and if the public has comments on any sport or coach, this is not the place to make those, they can make them during the general public comment at end of the meeting, or send letters and phone calls to the chain of command.” Katherine Whitaker, president of the board of trustees clarified that, “if the board were to discuss any specific person it would constitute a violation of open meeting law. The board has to give notice to that person before comments are made.” Regarding the survey, Daum said that emails were sent to the spring athletes and their parents, there was access through infinite campus, and register my athlete, on the CCHS website and a flyer was sent as well. The survey was open for ten days, from May 13^th to the 22^nd. He said 47 student athletes completed the survey, almost 40% of the athletes, "which is way up from the fall and 30% of the parents completed the survey.” According to Daum, the last question of the survey rates the overall experience in the spring program, with 33.3% of parents rating a less than three, with some at one or two; 54.5 % of parents rated greater than a three with some giving a four or a five; and 12.1% of parents gave a rating of three, or average. When athletes responded to the question regarding their overall experience, 14.9% rated a less than three, with some two and one; 68% rated their overall experience greater than three, with some fours and fives; and 17% rated a three or average. “I’ve always used the survey as input to make our overall programs better,” said Daum about the outcome of the survey, “and also a way of assessing myself and looking at what I can do to make myself better.” He said he was concerned with some of the areas and had significant concerns that he is currently addressing by having parent meetings. He said he will also be addressing certain things in the coaching handbook and the parent/athlete handbook. “The biggest concern for me is the safety of my athletes and the overall experience they have,” said Daum. He said some of the comments in the survey reflect those concerns, and he is making changes to how coaches handle athletic injuries and how they are reported. He is also including changes in the handbooks that address the movement of players by coaches during a season between the JV and varsity teams and notification of the athletic director. He is adding language that addresses coaches who can’t get along with each other in front of the athletes, and who are unprofessional. “Mr. Winter and I are assessing all coaching positions including all the spring coaching positions at all levels and will be making changes as needed and working with individuals that we think we can modify and can work with to make them better,” he said. “I have a young coaching staff in spring season, and we need to assess the things that can make things better, including some goal setting and making action plans.” Daum said he intends to add more coaching training, and that the NIAA requires that all coaches who are hired take coaching principals, first aid, and concussion protocol. “On top of that I’ve also added six to eight classes through the National Federation of High School Sports including dealing with parents, communicating effectively with parents, heat exhaustion, working with positive coaching and motivation, assess and handle athletic injuries – we don’t have a trainer.” He is currently meeting with coaches and talking to them about the surveys and going through the survey comments which he has found to be both negative and positive, “about 50/50 for and against.” Trustee Carmen Schank said that the district was way down on concussions this year, which Daum attributed to better teaching/coaching, better equipment, and changed policies for practice, including taking out all live tackles — form or scud tackling, taking out high octane scrimmage, and knowing the protocols better. Whitaker said it is “good that we have more participation in the surveys,” and she complimented Daum for doing the work to review all the comments in the survey. “The district hired you to do that — the board cannot and should not be involved in that.” Schank stated that she was “glad to hear your report — we do get letters and you answered many of the concerns.”       Never miss the local news -- read more on The Fallon Post home page. If you enjoy The Fallon Post, please support our effort to provide local, independent news and make a contribution today.  Your contribution makes possible this online news source for all things Fallon.