Avoca Central School

[SectionVsportsfan]

I just caught wind of some crazy things happening at Avoca Central School in Steuben County. I saw this on the news last night so I called somebody I know in Avoca and got the story. Apparently a teacher took a coaching position away from an outsider and the school board didn't like it so they were going to "Punish" her and the rest of the spring sport coaches by not allowing any volunteers for spring sports. Luckily the community got together and threw a fit so they had a special board meeting last night and finally approved the 11 volunteers for the Spring Sports. They covered this up by saying that they didn't want to approve the volunteers as a group but individually. Yeah Ok. The funniest part about this whole deal was recently retired Teacher/Athletic Director John Welc was one of the volunteers, He's coached Track & Field at Avoca for 35+ years but wasn't going to be able to help his daughter who is in her 1st year coaching the program and current Athletic Director Scott Carroll who's an assistant coach with the Varsity Baseball team wasn't going to be allowed to help out this year. Crazy situation, my friend tells me that he's never seen a school board so involved with the hiring and firing of coaches like Avoca is. Usually the Athletic Director handles all of this and the School board approves the decisions and moves on, but apparently Avoca's school board is a little different. He said it all started when Chris Roser was the Superintendent there and I guess he was famous for meddling with the Coaches and cleaning house, firing everybody and bringing in his own coaches, he did it at Greenwood, Hornell & Avoca, now he's doing it at Lewiston-Porter in Section VI. Maybe it's time for some "New Blood" on the School board in Avoca.

Board Members Say Yes To Volunteers (http://www.wetmtv.com/news/local/story/Board-Members-Say-Yes-To-Volunteers/F1TnH965_EKDHyFOy8TgOw.cspx)-WETM-TV

I found this all very interesting and thought I'd share it, with all of the Budget problems going on, wouldn't the school board have more important things to worry about? Let the Coaches Coach and the players play and leave them alone.

[mythoughts]

I hope all of those volunteers have all of their certifications. NYS doesn't recognize volunteer coaches so any volunteer coach is basically an unpaid coach. This meaning that the volunteers have to have CPR/AED, First Aid certifications, be NYS Education Dept. finger printed, completed the Child Abuse and SAVE courses, file for a temp coaching license AND (if that wasn't enough) start to take the three NYS require coaching courses! There aren't too many volunteers around willing to spend that amount of money (the finger printing alone cost $100).

[UNCTarheels]

I've coached at Avoca and been a volunteer there, I have all my certifications and CPR/first aid and been fingerprinted. The whole nine yards, this year was the 1st time in many years that I didn't coach there or volunteer

[g-man]

most schools have vol. who don't do all of those things (mainly because they get paid nothing and wouldn't vol. if they were made to do all of those things). i think that they should be fingerprinted for safety at the schools expense since they are benefiting from the help. all the rest of the stuff would be covered by the actual coach of the team. however, nys doesn't agree with me.

[ITSAGAME]

I agree with you g-man. I don't want anybody "coaching" my son or daughter if they have not been fingerprinted or had some form of a background check. Too many pedophiles in this world who can hide under the umbrella of a "coach" who take kids away for weekend tournaments etc. You would think schools would want to do this to protect themselves