Golf coach discussed at meeting
While several members of the Laurel Highlands High School golf team and their parents met behind closed doors with school board members Thursday evening about longtime coach Don Crawford, others said the coach is the victim of a personal vendetta. According to parents, Crawford is now the statistician and media liaison for the golf team, while Tom Battaglia and Lauren George are serving as coaches for the remainder of the season, a change that took effect Sept. 19.
Those same parents declined to discuss what precipitated the change in status.
Battaglia, when asked about his status with the team, would only say, “I’m here to help keep the team together and make it through the season.”
The board met with parents, students and Crawford in executive session for more than an hour, with the board taking no action on the matter.
“No one has been relieved of their duties, but there has been an administrative adjustment in responsibilities,” said solicitor Gary Frankhouser, declining to elaborate further.
However, two students, Aaron Yonash and Matt Hoover, asked to speak with the board about the golf team, which will begin playoff rounds next week.
Yonash said he was concerned about who would lead the team for the rest of the season.
Lenny Franks, general manager of Duck Hollow Golf Club, where the team often plays, said after the meeting that a few parents with political clout and wealth have a vendetta against Crawford, while the other team members support the coach.
“I’m here to support the other nine kids,” he said. “That team is in capable hands.”
Yonash said after the meeting that Crawford will be his coach when the team plays next week.
The board has called an athletic committee meeting for Oct. 27, when the issue of the golf coach will likely be discussed.
Also at the meeting, the board withheld a $10,000 payment to architect Michael S. Molnar Associates because a key approval has not yet been granted from the state Department of Education for the renovation/construction project at Hutchinson Elementary School.
Superintendent Dr. Ronald Sheba said work at the school cannot proceed without the approval from the state, which the district administration thought would have been granted last month.
“Once that approval is received, we’ll release the payment,” he said.
The Hutchinson project, which was supposed to begin this summer, will likely not be complete until sometime during the 2006-07 school year.
The work at the building was originally expected to be finished before the start of the next school year.
Directors announced that the November meeting date has been changed to Nov. 10. The work session will begin at 5 p.m. in the middle school conference room, with the business meeting to begin at 7 p.m. in the middle school auditorium.