2nd Athletic Director May Come to High Schools

Less than 10 minutes after two parents begged the Hanover Park Regional Board of Education to hire a second athletic director for the district, James Herbert of the Personnel committee recommended exactly that in his report to the board.

Meg Bartholomew and Richard Dunne each spoke during the public comments portion of Wednesday night's school board meeting to plead for a second athletic director. Whippany Park and Hanover Park High Schools have shared a single athletic director, Brent Kaiser, for several years, and Bartholomew said she feared what would happen if he left.

"With his exemplary talents, he could find a job as athletic director at one school instead of two," Kaiser said. "The job is too demanding for one person."

Dunne added he believed there were athletic purchases overlooked at Whippany Park High School. Specifically, he said he believed the baseball team had not had new uniforms in several years. "I think the students of each school deserve their own athletic director," he said.

"Consider, you're asking the public to vote for $17.5 million in this athletic project," Bartholomew said, adding if the board wanted the public to make the investment in district athletics, perhaps they should do the same in hiring a second athletic director. Overseeing the massive improvements on two campuses was too much to ask of one person, she said.

Board President Gerard Freda said the issue was already "under consideration," and minutes later Herbert recommended to the board, on behalf of the Personnel Committee, that several administrative positions be added to the 2013-14 school budget—including a second athletic director.

Superintendent Carol Grossi said when state aid to the district was cut by about $2 million in 2009, "we didn't want to touch sports, (because) we know the kids need that. We didn't want to touch teaching staff, (because) we know they're the heart of the school. We went to the administrative level."

The athletic director was not the only position that was not filled when it became empty. The district also eliminated supervisor and assistant principal positions where employees were not returning.

Now at last, Grossi said, "we were able to look at next year's budget and see what we could do. ... With the support of the board, we should be heading in this direction."