DAWG1

Coach Hicks I believe is in charge of the computer based classes which students take if the classes are not available at the high school. After talking with some folks the assistants under the previous admin did not apply for the job last year but instead quit because of the lack of support from the admin. But I do believe you coach for the kids and the fact that you love coaching. GC has never supported their coaches so this should have been no surprise to any veteran GC coach. I still believe they left our boys out to dry and hand cuffed the new coach. There is a way to send a message without using the kids as your weapon.

So every school who fires a coach/teacher can not post a vacancy? If you look on KHSAA for openings there are numerous jobs that say there are no teaching opportunities currently available. But at least you get some candidates to apply and the whole process could be done and as soon as a teaching job comes open. If you have the top five candidates lined up and you want the coach to be a teacher, than what ever teaching vacancy opens up then that coach gets the job. Most schools, if they want a particular coach will find a job for them somewhere in the district. Instead they will wait til a teaching vacancy opens before they put the hiring announcement out. This is wrong and causes an unnecessary delay which will hurt the kids beyond belief. I was told in last weeks meeting that the admin. promised the parents the job announcement would come out late last week or early this week. Maybe one will come out today, I can only hope. But if they wait til April 30th it will just be another lie by the admin. As far as a current GC staff member getting the job, the only ones with experience are the former coach and a couple of former assistants who decided not to come back last year when they did not get the head job that went to Arvin. When they left, Coach Arvin had to hire 2 assistants at the last minute and had to coach the whole year with 3 assistants at a 5A school. So if you only want to be the head coach and quit if you don't get it then you are not there for the kids in my belief. I don't judge people who walk away from coaching for whatever reason but don't come back after 1 year and only for the head job, I have no respect for that. We currently only have 3 coaches on staff and the district's answer for that is, we put an announcement out. They do not recruit coaches or even give interviews to ex- NFL players who want to teach and coach in this county. But they care, just ask them.

It has been over 2 weeks and still no advertising for the Grant County Head Football Coaching position. Some folks in the administration are saying they can not advertise one til April 30th, because Coach Arvin did not resign but instead was let go by the admin. They won't convene a hiring committee til after the job has been posted for 30 days, so now we are at May 30th. Summer is here and school is out everywhere and we now will start to interview candidates which may take up to 3 weeks and make the necessary background check phone calls, to people who are on summer break. Maybe by July 1st we can make an announcement. I am sure we will get a ton of qualified applicants who would be willing to leave their present team and come to Grant Co 6 weeks prior to the first game. This district just does not get it or does not care. Thanks for being there for our kids. I have been told the boosters give on average $50,000 a year to the team, which seems like it would be a good draw for a coach, but working for a district that just doesn't care is too big of a deterrent I guess.

All of my numbers about graduation rates and highly qualified teachers come directly from the State of Kentucky Dept of Education website.

Being a first year teacher at any school in Kentucky the admin. can let you go with no justification. Coach Arvin had taught at 2 of the top 500 public high schools prior to coming to GC. He had glowing recommendations from both schools, yet he was not able to teach the same class at GC successfully. Having a child at the school I have first hand information about how poorly the admin. supports athletics. They also have tried to install policies that are laughable. On senior night this year for the football team, band and cheerleaders approximately 40 kids were going to be recognized individually by the P.A. system and walking across the field like they do at every high school. Not ONE person from the admin. or board office was present to shake these kids hand and congratulate them for a great accomplishment. Only the football coach, band director and cheer coach were there. One of the vice principals had their wedding that same Friday night and that is where everyone was, including the athletic director. We have a baseball coach making the kids and their parents sign a contract promising they will not play any other sport during baseball season. He told the parents this was per the athletic director. I along with another parent were in the AD's office prior to this season and he said there is no school policy prohibiting a child from playing more than one sport at a time. Some baseball players wanted to lift with the football team this spring when they did not have a baseball commitment that day. These were kids that played football last year and will again next year, but this illegal policy given by the baseball coach prohibited this. So either the AD knows about it and condones it or the baseball coach is not letting the AD know what papers he is handing out to the kids and parents. I call that a lack of institutional control! We have a drainage problem from the baseball field leading to the football practice field for the past 5 years. Large holes approximately 1ft wide by 2ft deep have been present on the hill leading down to the football practice field. About 8 to 10 holes all together after every heavy rain. I approached the AD last August with this safety concern. He said he has had a work order in for months. So I went to the principal after this meeting and voiced my concerns to her. She was not aware of these large holes, which are on her campus. The holes were filled with dirt as a temporary fix. I have had to email the district twice since then to let them know the holes are back and they have come out to fill them. Coach Arvin let them know when the holes reappeared after heavy rains, of course nothing happened until I, a parent, voiced a safety concern over the situation, where the holes filled. As far as academic performance at GC, it is a joke. Our graduation rate was 65% last year, with a state average of 77%. There have been well over 30 fights at the school so far. So the school decided to create a policy that said if there were no fights for a week then all students would get to watch a movie the following Friday instead of 2 class periods of instructions. They wanted to REWARD kids for not fighting! We pay for a school resource officer to be in that school every day. Needless to say the next school day before school there was a fight, but they tried to say since it happened before school it would not count against the kids. By 2nd class period that same day there was another fight, so no movie. What rocket scientist gave the okay for this policy. Over the last four years roughly 8% of classes are being taught by teachers NOT highly qualified in the subject they are teaching. The state average is less than 2%. Why do we loose 15-20 teachers every year at the high school. I have numerous other examples of poor performance. Coach Arvin asked questions about policy and gave different suggestions to solve problems. This principal does not want suggestions or complaints from her teachers. She wants you to listen, shut up and do what she tells you to do. Numerous teachers told Coach Arvin this throughout the year but his conscience and character would not let him stand by and see these poor policies be shoved down the teachers and students throats. Coach Arvin was let go from his teaching position because of a personal grudge. As a parent I am going to make sure the Principal, AD and Superintendent are aware parents will not stand for this. I have different meetings with these people set up in the next week or so. I along with other parents have questions that MUST be answered. Unlike her teachers I will not shut up and do as she wants. If she wants to hold Coach Arvin accountable, we will hold her accountable for her actions as well. Coach Arvin was a blessing for this school and football team. He is a quality coach, teacher and man. I will miss him and I know he will land on his feet at a school where they actually CARE about their kids.