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In an emotional statement to the Warsaw school board, the assistant high school girls volleyball coach tendered her resignation as coach Monday.
Shirley Fleming, who said she has eight years experience as a volleyball volunteer and coach, cited lowered standards for girls athletics and a questionable selection process as her reasons for resigning.
"I'm only walking away because I no longer support this neglect for our student athletes," she said.
Fleming was referring to the selection of Itanya Baltimore-Coon as varsity volleyball coach at Warsaw Community High School. Coon's appointment was approved in the June school board meeting.
At the June meeting, WCHS athletic director Dave Fulkerson said Coon was selected because she is a high school teacher and Fleming teaches at Claypool Elementary.
Coon was hired in June to teach science at Edgewood Middle School and teach one block of science at the high school.
Fleming was supported Monday by Jerry Burns, a parent of a volleyball and softball athlete.
While Burns had reservations about expressing his opinion because of a fear of retribution against his daughter, he said the inexperience of the volleyball and softball coaches is an indication of the high school's lack of interest in girls athletics.
School board member Dan Robinson told Burns the board is not personally acquainted with each job candidate but relies on the recommendations of the administration.
Board president Craig Allebach asked superintendent Dr. Lee Harman to investigate the selection process and respond to the school board and to Burns and Fleming.
In other business, the school corporation's business manager, Rande Thorpe, received permission from the board to advertise the 1999-2000 budget for the public meeting in August.
The proposed budget for next year is $42,169,280, an increase of 2.74 percent over this year's budget of $41,044,905.
The board did not discuss the budget Monday, but will discuss it in detail in the August meeting.
The board also:
• Heard the annual energy report from Dan Wray, energy manager for WCS. Wray said that in the four years of WCS' contract with Energy Education Inc. the school corporation has avoided more than $1 million in energy costs.
Wray emphasized that cost avoidance is not the same as savings but is based on expected costs as opposed to actual costs.
Most of the savings have been at WCHS, he said, and are often something as simple as timing the air handlers to use only when people are present instead of constantly, etc.
• Approved a two-year contract with Huntington Beauty College for the high school's cosmetology program.
• Reviewed the curriculum guides for physical education, science and health for grades K through 12. The guides will be approved at the August meeting.
The school board meets at 7 p.m. on the second Monday of each month in the administration building.
