In the summer of 1996, through some connections, I landed a part-time gig writing for two weekly newspapers: The Cass Lake (Minn.) Times and the Northwoods Press of Nevis, Minn. During the summer while I was interning at The Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer, I also wrote a number of features and covered some Laporte (Minn.) School Board meetings for these two papers. I ended up with some great stories, and received a food following among their readers.
Aug. 1, 1996
By Devlyn Brooks
A disappointed Laporte School Board had to resort to a final measure at last Monday's meeting that they haven't done in about eight years: Appoint three teachers to extracurricular coaching positions.
Faced with the decision of whether to cut the sports of football and volleyball because there had been no applications for the coaching positions of the sports, the board instead decided to appoint teachers to the positions.
"I know we're not going to make the staff happy," board member Tim White said, "but it's either that or cancel the sports."
"And you won't make the kids happy if you cancel the sport," board member Karla Hadrava said.
In the contracts signed by each of the district's teachers, it states the board reserves the right to appoint the newest staff member, who is most qualified to supervise or coach an extracurricular activity, to the position.
The rule also stipulates the person can only be appointed to one extracurricular position for every three years the work with the district.
The coaching dilemma began weeks ago, when athletic director Terry Schroeder, head football coach, circulated a list of extracurricular coaching positions that were open to the staff. No one applied for the positions of head football coach, assistant football coach, head volleyball coach, assistant volleyball coach, junior high volleyball coach, head boys' basketball coach or cheerleading advisor.
An advertisement of the open positions was then placed in area newspapers for several consecutive weeks. By the July 22 meeting, only one application for the junior high volleyball coaching position was received. The other positions remained open.
Worried about the upcoming volleyball and football season that start in early August, the board decided they wanted to appoint people to the positions rather than cancel the sports.
The board appointed Carrie Raddatz, who was one of four teachers who had only been with the district a year, to the head volleyball coaching position. They also appointed Michael Foster, another one-year district employee, to the assistant volleyball coach position.
The board did not have to appoint anyone to the junior high volleyball position because they offered the lone applicant, teacher Carol Gnoisky, the position.
In a later interview, Raddatz said she originally had not applied for the volleyball coaching position because she felt if she left the position open, someone with more experience in the sport might apply, which did not happen.
"I like the girls (volleyball players) and for their sakes I wanted to keep the applications open," she said. Now, I'm looking forward to the challenge. It should be a fun season."
Michael Foster was not available for comment.
Later in the meeting, board chairman Jim Day moved to appoint Rich Morehouse head football coach, but the motion failed in a close vote.
Before the board voted on the motion, Morehouse said he did not reapply for the position because his son was getting older and would soon be participating in extracurricular activities. He wanted to be there to see it; and he had made this decision long ago.
"Last year, I would see my daughter for a half hour in the morning," he said, "and she would be in bed by the time I got home."
Board member Jay Buchanan then moved to appoint Schroeder to the position. The motion narrowly passed by another close vote, four to three.
Schroeder later said he wished not to comment about the appointment.
The board offered the 7th and 8th grade volleyball coaching position to Gnoisky.
The board tabled decision on the head boys' basketball coaching and the cheerleading advisory positions because they are winter sports. The board members said the did not want to appoint somebody to those positions until they had to.
Several times during the meeting, board members voiced their disappointment that no one would apply for the positions and said, for the students' sakes, it would be unjustified to cancel the sports.
Board member John Seegmiller said he was disappointed by some of the reasons people had given why they did not want to coach the sports.
"I have half a mind to cancel football this year," he said, "to let the kids see how their parents ruined the sport."
Day said in a later interview two of the reasons the district faced the coaching dilemma was that there was no one to help out from Bemidji State University this year, as there has been in the past, and that Laporte was a tough school to coach.
"We have parents who are very vocal," he said, "especially when it comes to sports. Maybe we'll (the board) have to have a conversation with the parents and tell them if they keep it up, they will run the program into the ground."
The last time the board had to appoint someone to a coaching position was about eight years ago, he said, when it named the head volleyball coach.
"The party didn't want to do it, but they took it and did very well," Day said. "It's too bad we have to make someone do something. But the people we appointed are professionals, and they'll do a good job."
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