Northeast Dubois School Board: Mother complains volleyball coach bullied player

The Northeast Dubois School Board in Tuesday night’s meeting heard from a parent alleging that one of the school’s coaches has bullied her student-athlete daughter by having a volleyball “thrown off of her, deliberately by the coach on three different occasions.”

The parent, Marsha Archer, claimed that her daughter, who is in sixth grade at NE Dubois Middle School, was struck repeatedly and that during one of those incidents a ball impacted her face. Archer said the alleged incidents would have been captured on school video.

Archer met with the Athletic Director Terry Friedman, the middle school principal Ryan Case and Misty Smith, the volleyball coach Misty Smith. She said she was told the incidents did not occur.

Archer said of the meetings that, “One time they said that she was hit in the face and they did see that, but they don’t think it’s malicious intent.”

Archer wants to view the videos herself to draw her own conclusion. However, she was denied access to the videos, under the advisement of school attorney Art Nordhoff Jr. He said showing the videos to individuals when they depict other students is illegal and that permission must be obtained from all of the parents before access would be considered.

The state public access counselor, the state department that assists in deciphering the public’s access to public documents and records, gave an official position on access to video records in a case involving the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville, Ind. Their position was that the law regarding school records and students places the responsibility on the school in how they interpret the law. He recommended the school allow the mother in the Martinsville case be able to view the recording from a public school bus but recognized the school’s ability to refrain from doing so.

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According to Public Access Counselor Luke Britt, regarding the Northeast Dubois Middle School volleyball team athletes, since the team’s roster of athletes is publicly known, he didn’t see a conflict that would risk the school’s federal funding.

Archer wants to view all of the dates of the practices with the athletes and the coach because she fears that other students who may have been treated in a similar manner by the coach might not come forward.

“Without the signatures, no,” was Nordhoff’s response to releasing the videos.

And, even if the signatures ofall parents in the school are obtained, he explained, the board, the athletic director or principal would have to make a decision whether to release them.

Archer asked who, within the school, was legally allowed to view the videos and Nordhoff stated that teachers and the coach could view them internally.

Archer told the board that she attended the most recent practice Tuesday evening before the school board meeting out of concern for her daughter’s well-being. She said she, “Doesn’t feel safe going to practice anymore because she is being abused and hit with the ball repeatedly.”

The board took no action on the issue, but after the meeting, Superintendent Bill Hochgesang said they take any allegations seriously. , “We delve into it and see what transpired and go from there and do the best we can with any incident whether it’s any discipline incident or whatever,” he said. “So, we always interview kids and try to get to the bottom of it and take care of what needs to be taken care of.”

The volleyball coach, Smith, has been coaching for 20 years with no complaints, school officials acknowledged.

Hochgesang also stated, “We viewed the video, so I think we just want the parents to trust us in making the right decisions for their kids.”

Also during the meeting, another parent, Denise Weikert-Gutgsell, asked why the school did not have a golf coach this spring since the board had ample time to find a replacement after the previous coach announced his resignation last year.

Wykert-Gutgsell’s son is a sophomore and wanted to participate in golf this year while trying to obtain a college scholarship in the sport after graduating.

Hochgesang said that it was difficult to find a coach for just the four or five students who wanted to be in the sport, but who also had commitments to other spring sports. He did say that they hoped to have one in place for next year.

Also in the meeting, the board took up a petition by Superintendent Hochgesang to have a hearing on his contract with the school corporation to reduce his health insurance benefit to the same level as the other staff members have done to save the school corporation money.
Board President Mary Pankey said the board was not inclined to make the move, given that Hochgesang holds the highest responsibilities in his duties as superintendent and didn’t feel it was the right thing to do, but Hochgesang insisted. So a public hearing was held Tuesday night, but no one came forward to speak, so the hearing was closed. Next month, the board will take a vote on the request by Hochgesang.

Hochgesang finished the meeting by reading a letter to the board stating:

“In May, I will be recommending to the Northeast School Board that they a resolution pursuing a referendum in the November election. The first and most important reason to pursue this referendum is to save our school corporation.
Without the referendum, Northeast Dubois will be forced to make dramatic cuts to our system, which will eliminate what makes Northeast Dubois unique and special.
We are the smallest school district in the county in population, yet we encompass the largest land area. The drastic changes that would need to occur without a referendum would eliminate what makes Northeast Dubois attractive as a school corporation.
This would begin a downward spiral and over time, lead to the ultimate consolidation with an area school corporation, where our patrons will assume that school’s tax rate.
Currently, patrons in our four townships comprising Northeast Dubois pay the lowest taxes in the county by a significant amount.
In fact, passing the referendum will result in continuing to pay the lowest taxes in Dubois County.
Passing a referendum for Northeast Dubois helps to continue the high quality of education that has become our reputation and maintains a structure that has worked in building that reputation.
In order to compete, we need the ability to retain, attract and train highly effective teachers and support staff.
Our students are our most precious resource and deserve the same opportunities afforded anywhere else.
Increasing class sizes is a current trend in education in order to fix financial issues. This trend may be helping the financial issue, but this trend is having a negative effects on educating students.
Passing the referendum will help to preserve our small class sizes and provide the support needed.”

The board also took the following actions:
· Passed a request to accept a bid from Leslie Coatings of Indianapolis for the repairing of the tennis court surfaces at a cost of $82,755.00. Hochgesang said that the new surface comes with a three-year warranty against the formation of cracks.
· Passed a request to accept a bid from Baglin and Tobey of Dubois County to repair nine areas of the High School parking lot at a cost of $61,859.25.
· Heard from Hochgesang that school will be in session on May 26th and 27th as snow make-up days.
· Heard that May’s school board meeting will be held in the high school cafeteria at 7 pm on the 17th and will be a community informational meeting on the school referendum and a rally to garner support from the local residents in Harbison, Columbia, Marion and Hall townships.