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Posts Tagged ‘new hire’

Potential finance hire placed on administrative leave at prior school

Posted in Not sports? Tough!, tagged , , , , , on May 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Brian Gianello (LinkedIn photo)

The consent agenda for Thursday’s Coupeville School Board meeting includes a recommendation to hire Brian Gianello as the district’s new Director of Finance and Human Resources.

He will replace the retiring Denise Peet, and his hire becomes official if approved by board directors.

The agenda also mentions an “opportunity for meet and greet in June.”

 

 

What the agenda doesn’t say is Gianello, who previously held similar positions with the La Conner School District from June 2021 to Feb. 2023, was placed on administrative leave by that district at the start of 2023.

 

Gianello resigned a month later.

 

While school district officials are always tight-lipped about personnel decisions, the minutes from La Conner School Board meetings leading up to the administrative leave decision show questions about finances being raised.

 

From the Nov. 28, 2022 La Conner School Board meeting:

 

From the Dec. 16 La Conner School Board meeting:

 

Gianello’s LinkedIn page — https://www.linkedin.com/in/gianellobrian/ — shows he has an AA in General Studies and Psychology from Diablo Valley College, and a BA in Psychology from Azusa Pacific University.

He has held several finance-related jobs, with the La Conner position being his first as a Business Manager.

 

The Coupeville School Board meets Thursday, May 25 at 5:30 PM in Annex Room 305 at Coupeville High School.

The consent agenda, which includes personnel decisions, is right at the start of the meeting, after the flag salute and adoption of the meeting agenda.

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Wolves welcome new coaches

Posted in Girls Soccer, Middle School, Track, tagged , , , , , , on March 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Kim Kisch, Wolf player turned Wolf coach. 

Amber Wyman (right) has accepted a bigger role in helping guide young Coupeville athletes. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

No more open jobs.

For the moment, at least.

Coupeville High School/Middle School Athletic Director Willie Smith has filled coaching positions for CHS girls’ soccer and CMS track and field.

Kim Kisch, one of the first booters to play for the Wolf program when it launched in 2004, is coming back around to call the shots as head coach starting next fall.

She replaces Kyle Nelson, who retired at the end of the most-recent season.

Meanwhile, Amber Wyman, already hired to coach middle school cross country, will also pick up coaching duties with the CMS track and field program.

Returning coach Jon Gabelein and Wyman welcome a new squad to the first day of practice Apr. 10, with a six-meet schedule running Apr. 26-May 31.

Before becoming a head coach, Wyman was an assistant helping middle school (now high school) running guru Elizabeth Bitting.

Both hires will be official once approved by the school board.

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New leader blooms in Coupeville school gardens

Posted in Not sports? Tough!, tagged , , , , on February 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Holly Bloom

Alert the town’s deer, there’s a new sheriff at the Coupeville Farm to School program.

Holly Bloom recently replaced Zvi Bar-Chaim, who departs after an eight-year run as Program Manager.

The new face of the school system’s highly successful bid to bring together students and fresh veggies hails originally from Buffalo.

Bloom lived and worked in Truckee, California the past two years, and brings a decade-plus of educational and horticultural experience to her new position.

“I specialize in hands-on project based learning and outdoor education,” she said in a Facebook post.

She served as an AmeriCorps volunteer in 2008, then went on to charter a Farm to School program through that company.

Bloom has worked for a variety of non-profits, public, private and charter schools, as well as state and county agencies.

She earned a B.A. in Art Education and an A.A.S. in Horticulture.

“I’ve found that both the visual arts and horticulture go hand in hand and provide students with a safe space where they can connect with each other and the world around them,” Bloom said on Facebook.

“I feel most at home in the garden, where I can share my passion for the natural world and instill a stronger sense of humanity in my students through the pursuit of academic and hands-on learning.

“I am very excited to join the Whidbey Island community and to be a part of the Coupeville Farm to School team!”

Bloom, out and about.

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Hilborn new hardball head coach

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on November 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Steve Hilborn has been tabbed as Coupeville High School’s new head baseball coach. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Steve Hilborn is stepping up.

After several seasons as an assistant coach at Coupeville High School, plus a stint with the local Babe Ruth program, Matt and Scott’s dad is the new Wolf head baseball coach.

His hiring is on the agenda for Monday’s school board meeting.

The elder Hilborn follows in the footsteps of Will Thayer, who led the CHS hardball program for two seasons before moving to Las Vegas.

Hilborn inherits a team coming off of a Northwest 2B/1B League title.

While the Wolves lost a strong group of seniors to graduation, key returners should include Scott Hilborn, Jonathan Valenzuela, Chase Anderson, Peyton Caveness, and Cole White, among others.

Baseball gets back to action with the start of practice the final week of Feb. 2023.

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Killer Kassie movin’ on up

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , , on October 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Kassie O’Neil (far left) is the new CHS JV girls basketball coach. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

She’s changing gyms but remains a Wolf forever.

After a year with the Coupeville Middle School girls basketball program, Kassie O’Neil is crossing the hallway and joining the high school coaching staff.

One of the hardest-working Wolves to ever grace the hardwood back when she was dropping daggers, O’Neil is the new JV girls hoops coach for CHS.

She joins a program headed up by varsity coach Megan Smith and replaces Greg Turcott, who moved to Eastern Washington.

O’Neil’s hiring was confirmed Friday by Coupeville Athletic Director Willie Smith and will be official after school board approval.

The new girls JV coach once played on the same court where she’ll now pass on wisdom to a new generation.

Killer Kassie (second from left), during her playing days.

Part of a highly successful athletic family which includes siblings Kayla, Katie, and Kurtis, Killer Kassie was a hustler and a scrapper, a rebound and pass-first basketball player with an uncanny knack for draining big-time shots.

She cracked the CHS varsity basketball team near the end of her freshman season, making her debut with the top squad at the state tournament.

O’Neil, now a mother of a pack of boys, became a varsity captain in later seasons, topping the Wolves in rebounds and assists.

She also delighted in making the richniks at King’s shed sweet, sweet tears, twice knocking down buzzer-beating three-balls against the highly ranked Knights.

After high school, O’Neil played basketball at Whatcom Community College.

Now, as she preps for her newest challenge, she’s sky-high.

“I am so excited,” O’Neil said.

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