Swim Team Parents Try to Oust Board Members

Parents of Lake Forest swim team members have initiated a referendum attempting to remove the swim team’s board, reinstate the two fired coaches and pay the coaches the traditional bonuses they were promised but allegedly did not receive. The referendum accuses the current board of breach of fiduciary duty.

Alyson Music, the parent of two swim team members, forwarded a copy of the proposed referendum to the swim team parents and board members, asking for a yes or no vote and a fully typed name as an electronic signature.

The referendum brings up four specific concerns of parents, including:

• Repeated demands by Jim Brown, the swim team board president, that the
• Firing of two of the three swim team coaching staff and non-payment of traditional bonuses to all coaches after the coaches refused to give in to Brown’s demands.
• The decision to allow the office manager of the Lake Forest Yacht Club to act as the treasurer of the swim team, presenting a conflict of interest.
• Swim team parents were not notified of open or expired swim team board positions so that they could consider running for a seat.

Involved families may vote before the Sept. 14 board meeting, or after the meeting is over, once they have heard the from the board. According to Music, the swim team by-laws state that a simple majority will carry a motion; therefore, with 81 families involved with the swim team, a simple majority of 41 yes votes will carry the referendum.

In addition, the current swim team board has changed its stance on its Sept. 14 meeting, at first billing it as a public meeting, open to anyone who “loves the black and blue of the LFST. All current swim team families are welcome at the meeting, including former coaches,” according to an email from Brown.

A follow-up email from swim team treasurer/Lake Forest Yacht Club manager Diane Hyland noted that she was asked by the board to inform the membership that, “This meeting will be for current 2012 LFST families only and will not be a public meeting. There will be a sign in sheet at the door."

Another email from the swim team board stated that, "Tthe LFST Board has decided that this is an internal matter and the matters to be discussed relate to issues that occurred during this past swim season therefore the decision was made that current 2012 LFST families may attend the meeting.

“This is a contradiction to Jim Brown’s original email,” Music said of the decision. “It is contradicting Brown’s original invite.”

Repeated attempts to reach swim team board members for comment on the issues to be discussed at the meeting were unanswered.