Coupeville Sports

New Coupeville High School Athletic Director Tom Black, with daughter Lexie.

Coupeville High School will have a new Athletic Director when students head back to school in the fall.

An email sent to parents after Monday’s school board meeting outlined changes the school district will have to take to deal with falling enrollment.

One part of that involves the administration at CHS, with Principal Larry Walsh not being offered a contract for next year.

Superintendent Jim Shank will take over as principal, working closely with assistant principal Duane Baumann, who will step away from his current AD responsibilities.

Tom Black, currently the Dean of Students, will take over as AD.

Black is the father of former Wolf basketball legends Lexie and Brittany Black, who helped lead Coupeville’s girls’ basketball squads during a highly successful stretch in the early 2000’s.

The duo later went on to play b-ball on scholarship at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The email sent to parents:

Dear Parents,

At last night’s School Board meeting action was taken to more closely align our staffing model with the state funding allocation.

The decision was based on a continuing decline in enrollment; we have 100 less students than we had five years ago.

2010/11 = 961 students

2011/12 = 956 students

2012/13 = 916 students

2013/14 = 892 students

2014/15 = 862 students (12 in the Wolves Online program)

As a result, the district is unable to sustain the same level of employees, and action was taken to:

1. Reduce certificated staff by up to 3.0 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) teaching positions throughout the district.

There have been several resignations due to retirement and relocation and this adjustment will be made through attrition.

2. Reduce administrative staff by 1.0 FTE.

Principal Larry Walsh has been informed that we cannot offer him a contract for the coming year. The Board has authorized me to implement changes to the school administration.

Essentially, I will serve as principal of the secondary school, working closely with Duane Baumann as assistant principal.

Tom Black has agreed to serve as Athletic Director, which will allow Mr. Baumann to focus more on school leadership.

3. Reduce classified staff in the district office by up to .6 FTE.

Upon Janet Wodjenski’s retirement, Julie Hunt and Aimee Bishop will coordinate to cover the responsibilities of administrative assistant and special services secretary. This will increase Aimee’s work schedule by about .4 FTE.

Foremost in the Board’s consideration has been a commitment to supporting classroom instruction despite overwhelming evidence that the district is not rebounding from enrollment reductions.

Our 2015-2016 budget will be based on a projection of 840 students.

I am grateful for Mr. Walsh’s leadership and for the work the whole school has accomplished in creating a schedule that will allow more learning opportunities for our students.

This work will benefit our students and community.

If you have questions or concerns about these changes, please email me (jshank@coupeville.k12.wa.us).

We will compile a “Frequently Asked Question” list with answers and share that with families.

Sincerely,

Jim Shank, Superintendent