Dayton School Board vote to dissolve Athletic Combine

DAYTON – The Dayton School Board held its regular meeting on November 16, 2022. Members of the school board were present, Chair Jeffrey McCowen, Grant Griffen, Korinda Wallace, Aneesha Dieu, and Zac Fabian. Also present were Superintendent Rich Stewart and Business Manager Jana Eaton.

Resident Jeff Milsten offered the following proposed resolution to the Board:

“All teachers in Dayton Schools are encouraged to always teach factually, always teach truthfully and without bias. This includes teaching the reality that Jesus Christ is the most influential person who has ever lived, that Martin Luther’s teachings from the Bible did dramatically influence Europe, then the world, and that major ways of being and events in world history have significant Christian influence.

“That the Bible is by far the most published and influential book ever written, which means all students should have at least some Biblical awareness.”

He asked the Board “to publicly say that this can be taught.” He plans to make the same presentation at the state level.

In the Athletic Director’s report, Sam Korslund said the Middle School wrestling turnout was up to seven boys and one girl. High school wrestling has four registered students, but only two actively participate due to job conflicts on weekends. Carlos Norris has been hired as their coach.

The superintendent’s report focused on his efforts to meet with groups and community members, including the Dayton City Council. He also reviewed maintenance issues. 

Eaton said in the budget status report that things were “looking very good.”

The Board Chair moved to hold the executive session before the agenda’s action items. Stewart prompted the Board, asking if they wanted to have the executive session before or after the action items since it is normally done afterward. Dieu said she wanted the executive session before the action items to have a “brief discussion,” saying she would only need about fifteen minutes. Apparently, the executive session was to discuss the fall sports coach’s contracts.

The action items on the agenda were:

Recommendation to approve the disposal of surplus weight equipment

Recommendation to approve a Perkins Grant

Recommendations on which Fall sports coach contracts to renew

A recommendation to dissolve the DW Combine.

The Board went into executive session at 6:46 p.m. and returned to public session at 7:02 p.m.

After returning, the first two recommendations were approved without discussion. Korslund said that based on his performance reviews and observations throughout the season, he recommended renewing the contracts for two coaches and non-renewal for one. The Board approved Korslund’s recommendations without discussion.

Korslund spoke first concerning the DW Combine. He read a letter he sent to the Dayton and Waitsburg superintendents. he expressed feeling he’d been treated unfairly and dishonestly by the Waitsburg School Board and administration for months.

He listed a series of complaints, starting last year, about his time as the Athletic Director for the DW combine.

He accused a Waitsburg Board member of altering fall sports registration documents to benefit their child, and claimed the WSD Superintendent and Board Chair did not support his claim.

Korslund said students from WSD received incorrect and more lenient requirements for sports participation than was agreed on by the two districts. He said the Dayton students received and followed the correct information.

Korslund said he had lost trust in the Waitsburg School Board and the Waitsburg administration and that he had submitted his resignation as combine athletic director several weeks earlier. Since Korslund was unable to create a working relationship with WSD he recommended that the school districts have their own athletic directors and the athletic combine should be dissolved.

The interim superintendent agreed with Korslund’s recommendation, “We’ve come this far; there’s a chance for a new beginning. We can move forward. It doesn’t have to be in a combine situation. My recommendation to you is that at the end of the middle school boys’ basketball, we dissolve the middle school combine this year. And at the end of the school year, we dissolve the total combine and move forward as independent districts in our athletic co-curricular programs.”

Stewart said this had been an ongoing discussion between him and the Waitsburg Superintendent for about a month. He said, “It’s not working as well as we wanted it to. It’s become divisive and more contentious.”

McCowen gave a synopsis expressing regret at what has happened and called the combine “an unhealthy marriage.” He said the combine was “not working for all kids.”

A baseball coach for the combine cautioned said that the two school districts operating independently would not have enough participants to field a team or be competitive.

He said he knew that the Waitsburg School Board also felt the Dayton School Board had not been communicative. He criticized the Dayton Board for publicly accepting and rejecting coach candidates for the next season. He said the matter should have been handled more discreetly in the hiring process. He said it was time for us “all to be adults.”

Dieu said the benefit of the combine did not outweigh the “very, very, important negatives.” She then moved to dissolve the combine as recommended by the superintendent. The recommendation passed unanimously.

Due to a scheduled conference, the Waitsburg School District held its regular board meeting on the same night. The Board did not have the combine on the agenda or discuss the matter.

The Times will cover the November board meeting and the WSD’s reaction to the DSD board’s decision to dissolve the athletic combine in next week’s paper.