During its regular meeting held on Wednesday, Oct. 7, the Archuleta School District (ASD) Board of Education (BoE) discussed the status and efforts of the newly formed athletic advisory committee.
BoE member Butch Mackey brought up the topic during the board comments period of the meeting, indicating the advisory committee is “getting fired back up for the school year.”
He added, “Having a full-time athletic director hopefully will prove to be fruitful for us.”
The athletic director for ASD currently is Curtis Nehring.
Mackey also noted that anyone is allowed to attend the athletics advisory committee meetings
Superintendent Rick Holt explained that one of the matters the committee has attempted to address is the shortage of referees in the area.
“We had a real shortage of referees for football,” he said.
Holt also mentioned that the committee is currently focusing on the topic of “creating kind of an athletic philosophy that expands from seventh grade to senior year.”
He explained that part of the goal with creating that philosophy is to be able to clearly outline how the district treats its different teams and players.
“It’s just something that the district has not had. It’s relied on the individual efforts of individual coaches who have developed incredible programs,” Holt said.
He explained that would be helpful “rather than create a cult of personality where that person leaves and then everything has to start all over again.”
Holt noted that the advisory committee consists of parents, booster club members and coaches.
BoE member Amanda Schick commented, “I just think some clarity is needed.”
She mentioned that the topic of athletics continues to come up within “inner circles” from middle school though high school.
“So, I think that that community could have leverage,” she said, adding that it would be valuable to have some “clarification of expectation of the program” from the number of participants to “what is the philosophy of these teams?”
Schick also noted that she has asked for the district’s athletic director to come before the BoE.
BoE member Tim Taylor asked about the initiative to potentially get more referees in the area, with Holt explaining that many referees are “aging out.”
He also explained that “people are not excited to be a referee; they’re taking a lot of flack from the stands.”
He noted that has been a point of focus for the athletic director in trying to address fans that harass officials.
Schick offered more comments on the importance of developing a district-wide athletics philosophy.
“I think the more cohesive the message could be, it will allow some really good structure to come into place, to ensure everybody can kind of understand what the mission is, and I think that that is greatly needed,” Schick said.
Mackey also noted that having a cohesive philosophy would be beneficial for students beginning in seventh grade, “so that, by the time they’re in high school, they understand the program.”
Schick commented that it’s necessary to keep good coaches wanting to coach in order for that to happen.
Holt mentioned that one thing currently delaying the hiring of a head track coaching position is being specific about what are the qualities that the program needs “that we want to articulate.”
“There’s some assumptions out there that are based on what other coaches have done in the past, but those things haven’t been clearly articulated anywhere,” he said.
BoE president Bob Lynch expressed that the basic idea is to have a handbook that “cuts across all athletics” that expresses how athletic programs are intended to aid in student education and growth.
Holt commented that in having conversations with various coaches, it’s been expressed that philosophy would be great to have articulated, “and they just haven’t existed here.”
Lynch also provided an ancedotal story of his experience coaching in the district, explaining that he initially believed he would be evaluated at the end of the year.
“It turned out, you don’t get evaluated. You get asked, ‘Are you coming back?’” he said, suggesting that creates a culture of “the coach decides.”
Holt indicated that he expects some things to come before the BoE in regard to developing an athletic philosophy.
“I was surprised at how informal things were as far as expectations,” Mackey added.
Holt also explained that last year the district dealt with the topic of deciding on how far a team could drive before it needed to book a hotel stay.
“We didn’t have anything to base that on,” Holt said, explaining that those decisions were based on memories of previous coaches and staff rather than being defined in a policy derived from an athletics philosophy.
Holt also noted that the district’s coaches are being represented in the athletics advisory committee.
“We’ll stay after it,” Mackey added.
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