Sioux Valley School Board hears complaints about athletic programs
VOLGA – Over the past few months, the Sioux Valley School Board has heard concerns from Sioux Valley parents regarding negative student-athlete experiences in the Sioux Valley athletic programs.
Concerns were first raised by Travis Renkly, a parent in the Sioux Valley School District, at the Jan. 10 school board meeting. According to the Jan. 13 edition of the Volga Tribune, Renkly explained to the board that students’ participation in athletics was declining amongst juniors and seniors at Sioux Valley. Further, he said that many athletes were pressured into participating in some sports year-round, oftentimes manipulated or “guilt-tripped” into signing up for summer sports camps.
Renkly also described a certain level of “drama” surrounding the athletic programs when some middle school student-athletes were selected by coaches to play with the high school teams. His worry was that the athletic programs were suffering because of the “favoritism” occurring with some of the coaches.
At the Feb. 14 a larger group of parents were in attendance to voice more concerns of the same nature.
“Wrong is wrong, no matter what,” said John Sapp, a parent in the Sioux Valley School District, according to the Feb. 17 edition of the Volga Tribune. “Acknowledging weakness, admitting wrong is uncomfortable. Making change can be unpleasant and messy, but it is part of the process for reaching excellence and striving for perfection. For the good of our kids and the good of Sioux Valley schools and student-athletes please do what is right. Not what is easy or comfortable, but what is right.”
Although specific examples of situations/issues and/or coaches were not provided by the parents (to the public), there was a general concern about the mental health of athletes due to negative experiences on Sioux Valley athletic teams. Sapp explained that some changes in the athletic programs may be overdue as some student-athletes have been struggling in certain sports environments where, rather than being encouraged, they are being negatively affected.
At the March 14 school board meeting, the school board and administration addressed the recent concerns that the parent group had voiced at the previous two meetings.
Superintendent Laura Schuster explained that she has discussed some of the recent concerns with Moe Ruesink, dean of students/activities director for the district. She said that they can improve “what we do, specifically in the athletic programs.”
Schuster explained further that if any changes were to occur, the full “buy-in” of the coaches would be necessary as would their cooperation, which would require their involvement in this decision-making process.
The first “change” that Schuster suggested was the addition of a mission statement that would be hung in the gymnasiums. She explained that the music department has a clear mission statement and that it could be helpful in alleviating some of the issues.
Another change would be to update the athletic handbook and add a link to the district’s formal complaint policy. Chairperson David Squires explained that addressing the complaint process really “resonated” with the parent group that had voiced the concerns.
“We do have a process. How can it be improved?” Squires said. “I don’t have the answer tonight, but just in talking to some board members and administration, I think there is some things there – some processes that we can put in place to create better communication throughout the whole pyramid of coaches, athletes and parents.”
Other ideas included professional development for coaches and orientation for new coaches/recent hires as well as a coaches evaluation.
“One of our main goals here is to support coaches, not micromanage coaches,” Squires said. “How can we at Sioux Valley better support all of our staff, including coaches?”
School board member Matt Wagner explained that the parent-coach relationship is “crucial” as is the student-coach relationship. The administration-coach relationship is also equally important, Wagner said.
School board member Krista Benson said that she wants to make sure there is transparency in these processes “if things aren’t going well.”
“I like the idea of putting the complaint process into the athletic handbook,” Benson said, explaining that it would be good to prevent things from even getting to the complaint stage.
Benson and Wagner both agreed that the first step in this process should be relatively simple but maybe that first step hasn’t been clear to everyone.
“I think it needs to be clear that the first step doesn’t mean you all of sudden are going to start filling out reports and you’re going to be making calls and you’re going to get lawyers involved- the first step is ‘let’s all have a chat about it,’” Benson added.
“Communication is always something that anyone can improve on,” Ruesink said. “I think communication across the board, whether its coach to athlete, athlete to coach, or parent to coach – I want people to feel comfortable going to people if they have something that they either need addressed or if they have a basic question.”
Ruesink explained that he wasn’t sure that “comfort level” exists at the moment, but he wanted people to feel comfortable enough with coaches/staff/administration to bring issues forward.
“There’s a lot of things going well with our athletic programs,” Schuster added. “You don’t get to a state tournament on your own.”
“We do have good coaches. I’m proud of our coaches,” Wagner said.
It was informally agreed upon that before the start of next fall, the goal would be to clarify some of the processes in which complaints are addressed and dealt with while creating better communication channels between coaches, athletes, and parents.
The board agreed that this discussion will continue at future school board meetings.
“This is the infancy of this discussion,” Squires said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Messages sent by the Register to Sioux Valley parents seeking comment on their concerns regarding athletics were not returned, and one parent declined to comment.