Former School Board Member Gilmeister No Longer Coaching

Two weeks after he so that he could continue coaching, Jim Gilmeister is no longer coaching girls basketball at .

Gilmeister said Thursday that he chose to step aside to attend to personal matters. He refuted a suggestion that he was forced out and said that he will continue to volunteer with the program when he can.

Oak Creek-Franklin Superintendent Sara Burmeister declined to comment.

Gilmeister had been the freshman girls basketball coach and an assistant with the varsity team. Gilmeister resigned from the School Board Nov. 15 because, he said, of a state regulation that prohibited him from serving on the board and coaching in the school district at the same time.

On the day after he resigned, he said he wanted to continue coaching because he could have a greater impact on kids.

"It's just something I wasn't willing to give up yet," he said.

Whatever the specifics of his departure may be, it was clear that Gilmeister's situation was still on the mind of Oak Creek-Franklin School Board members.

Following a closed-session meeting Monday night, board members chose Brian Kaminski to replace Gilmeister over Sheryl Cerniglia. Two School Board members have compared Cerniglia's involvement with the Spirit Club, which sells OCHS apparel, to Gilmeister's role with athletic programs. They said that certain issues needed to get resolved, though they did not elaborate.

Cerniglia .

"It is my understanding that I was not selected to fill the vacancy because the board was concerned that paperwork for tax-exempt status had not been completed for the Oak Creek High School Spirit Club (a group that I am currently part of)," she wrote. "The process for completion of this paperwork had already begun before the board vacancy occurred and will continue until completion."