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Athletics director decision reversed

By Lisa Scheller - | Mar 21, 2007

Tonganoxie High School athletics director Brandon won’t be leaving Tonganoxie, after all.

The Tonganoxie school board, on a 4-2 vote Friday, reversed a Feb. 21 decision that would have required the high school’s athletics director to have an administrator’s license.

Board president Kay Smith and member Ron Moore voted against the motion, which was made by Darlyn Hansen.

Before voting, Smith said: “I believe it needs to be an administrative position.”

The action essentially made it possible for Parker to retain his job. Parker does not have an administrative license.

Immediately following this board action, Hansen made a motion to rehire Parker as the athletics director. Again, the vote was 4-2, with Smith and Moore voting no.

Parker’s salary for the 2006 school year has been about $39,000. Of that, $26,232 is for his role as an administrative assistant, and $12,630 is his supplemental contract.

After the meeting, Parker, who has been the THS athletics director since the start of the 2002-2003 school year, said he was pleased to hear he had been retained in the job.

“There’s a lot of good things happening in Tonganoxie,” Parker said. “We wanted to continue to be a part of it.”

Moore said he voted against hiring Parker because he thought a licensed administrator should hold the position.

“It’s an issue of having a certified administrator and someone who has significant experience as athletics director,” Moore said, “And if we had had that, perhaps some of the problems we’ve had with football and softball could have been avoided, had we handled this differently.”

Parker, who did not attend the board meeting, declined to comment on the controversy with softball.