Final action on Falls High School's head boys and girls golf coach position is expected Monday when the Falls School Board meets at 5 p.m. in the FHS cafeteria.
In May, a resolution was adopted by the board that placed Bill Mason, who served as golf coach, on paid suspension for the remainder of the 2013 golf season following a school-administered investigation. The same resolution stated Mason's coaching position would not be renewed for the 2014 season.
In June, a hearing requested by Mason revealed Superintendent Nordy Nelson conducted an investigation into Mason giving a stranger a ride in the school van while five of the boys on the golf team were in the van returning from an out-of-town golf meet.
“They stopped at an A&W (restaurant) and a stranger asked for a ride in the (school) van,” Nelson told The Journal in June. “After a few requests, Bill relented and allowed him to get in the van.”
Nelson said in June providing a ride to an unauthorized person in the school van was a violation of the school district's safety policy.
“The kids possibly could have really been in danger,” Nelson said in June.
The board took no action following the June hearing, and Nelson recommended any decision be deferred to the August meeting because “things were getting too emotional.”
Mason asked the hearing be closed to the public, and the board closed the meeting, but it was then opened to public just before it began.
Nelson told The Journal this week that on Monday, the board will have three options regarding the Mason's coaching position:
The board can finalize the non-renewal of Mason serving as the golf coach; it can post the position and allow Mason and others to apply with a recommendation to the board coming from a five-person interview committee; or, Nelson said, the board can cancel the earlier non-renewal decision and reinstate Mason as the golf coach.
Regardless of the outcome, Nelson said a decision must be made.
“The board needs to finalize the decision and we need to move on from here,” he said.
Mason did not return messages from Journal staff in time for this edition.
In other business Monday, the board is expected to consider hiring Tom Vollom as the coordinator for the 2013-2014 Indian education program for three hours per day.
Vollom has been employed as the Ojibwe languange/culture teacher at FHS since 2003, and was placed on unrequested leave after the district was notified June 7 it wouldn't be a recipient of the Minnesota Department of Education’s Success for the Future Grant, a grant the school has received in the past.
The $76,000 grant, which the district can apply for every five years, covered the salaries of Vollom's position and a paraprofessional, Nelson previously told The Journal.
In June, board members and others in the community formed a committee to explore ways to keep the language and culture program available to FHS students.
Also on Monday's agenda, the board is expected to consider hiring Ryan Puncochar as a full-time secondary social studies teacher.
The board is also scheduled to consider a request from physical education teacher Bruce Elson to be placed on unpaid leave for up to five years, beginning this school year.
