By Hal Levy, Shore Line Newspapers
Special to MaxPreps.com
Return with us now to those not-so-thrilling days of yesteryear when a hugely blown-out-of-proportion steroid incident rocked Madison and made national tongues wag.
One aftermath was a thoughtful, positive, pro-active, educationally-sound proposal put forth by Hand football coach Steve Filippone. A fitness center, he reasoned, would not only give Hand students and athletes a good way to get stronger, but also could serve as a teaching center about the negatives of the drug culture.
The idea was good enough to find favor and some construction work was done. At the same time, a number of area coaches and athletic directors knew of a way to purchase some fitness equipment at a bargain price. Published reports indicated $22,000 could buy about $100,000 worth of equipment.
Hand athletic director Craig Semple knew of the equipment and set about raising the necessary funds, privately and with no cost to Madison taxpayers. It is my understanding he appraised the school principal about the purchase. At any rate, he did purchase the equipment and had it installed.
So far, so good, right?
Wrong.
For his trouble, Semple was put on double-secret probation (aka "administrative leave") by Madison Superintendent of Schools H. Kaye Griffin. Semple's crime? He didn't clear it properly with the boss. He actually went ahead and did his job - at no taxpayer expense - and got written up for doing things wrong. It would be hilarious if it weren't so tragic.
Let's view a couple of the objections made by Griffin and/or Board of Education chair Bob Hale.
The equipment was "gender-specific". That's an insult to a generation of women athletes and fitness seekers at Hand, not to mention archaic.
There's a need for manufacturer's specs to be on file. I imagine there is someone in the Madison public school system with enough computer savvy to go on-line and get the necessary information - and maybe even print it out.
Machines must have manufacturer's names on them. I'd bet a factory rep would gladly bring out name-plates and screw them on - probably at no charge.
A qualified supervisor trained in first aide and CPR would have to be on duty at all times. Hum-m-m-m. Every coach at Hand has to be certified and must be current in first aide and CPR. That's a state law.
All students must be fully trained in the use to of the equipment in advance. Isn't that what teaching is all about?
I asked a neighboring athletic director what would have happened in a similar circumstance and the response was "they'd be ecstatic."
Probation? Administrative leave? Voting to turn the equipment back (the Board, apparently in haste and without much thought, voted to do just that)? The sound I heard was laughter.
Let's take the Durham-Middlefield Regional School District 13. For about 40 years, Coginchaug High School has had a group called the Benchwarmers, which has provided what Hall of Fame coach and former AD Wally Camp calls "the cherry on top" - i.e. things of value to the athletic program which go beyond the basic budget. Some projects have included the purchase of two 15-passenger vehicles which the school can use to transport small athletic teams (golf, tennis, some jayvees for instance) without the cost of renting a bus. Coaches are certified as drivers and the only cost to the school system is maintenance.
Other projects have included re-sodding the baseball infield, re-building an outdoor basketball court, purchasing timing equipment for the track/cross country program and such sundries as a tennis ball machine, pitching machines for baseball and softball, batting cages, an artificial pitching mound, a volleyball machine and yes, equipment for the fitness center.
The only time the Board of Education got involved was to approve the vans. The rest all went through Camp or current athletic director Ted Lombardo and the Benchwarmers' New Projects Committee (which asks for three estimates on all expenses, among other things). The only time the Superintendent got involved was to thank the organization for caring about kids. I know about this because I've been signing the checks for the club for the last six years.
If Griffin really wanted to flex her muscles - which could probably be improved with a few workouts at the fitness center - she would have taken Semple aside, patted him on the back and suggested "next time, run it by me first so I don't get taken by surprise", or words to that effect. In other words, a positive management style and an understanding the end more than justified the means.
Furthermore, that would have been a positive for the students at Hand and the citizens of Madison.
In all frankness, Semple can be tough to get a handle on. But people I know, whose opinions I value and judgments I trust, tell me first and foremost that he is for kids. And that makes him a good man in my book because I was always under the impression that's what the educational system was supposed to be all about.
Not a plethora of "i-dotting" and "t-crossing" which marks micro-management, the second-worst sin (after Management by Crisis, which also seems to fit here) any administrator can commit.
In her apparent frenzy to break apart the athletic power structure in Madison, Ms. Griffin seems to have forgotten that her responsibility is to children first. I really wish she, and the Board of Education, could show the public at large how their actions in this matter have benefited either the children of Madison or their taxpaying parents.