This community takes its high school sports seriously.

Successful programs bring accolades to Davis High, many of its athletes are considered for grants at the next level and increased attendance — especially at football games — can mean additional revenue for a strapped athletic department.

But hiring (and firing) of coaches, dealing evenly with athletes and ensuring that parents know their roles (and the chain of command for voicing grievances) hasn’t always been on solid footing in the Davis Joint Unified School District.

However, with Thursday’s passage of separate handbooks for coaches and their players, parents and guardians — and additional guidelines for dealing with coaching personnel — local trustees hope they’ve scored a philosophical and policy touchdown.

“I am pleased with the direction we’re moving,” trustee Sheila Allen told The Enterprise.

Allen and board President Susan Lovenburg, serving as the panel’s policy subcommittee, have been working for more than four years on streamlining and clarifying district policy in the athletic arena.

For example, all coaches in the district are required to have a season’s-end review with the Davis High athletic director. With a full-time AD (Dennis Foster) in place during the past two school years, Allen says all spring sports coaches had exit reviews — a big step forward

In the new policy statements, it has been made clear how a selection panel for those coaches is formed and what criteria are used to give one candidate a leg up over another.

Board Policy 4127 states: “When hiring a person to fill a position as a (coach), the position shall first be made available to qualified certificated teachers currently employed by the district.” That policy also is part of the California Education Code.

Where trustees have made an adjustment to local policy is: “Qualified classified employees shall receive consideration after certificated staff.” Consideration replaced the word “preference.”

Allen says once a coaching position has been announced, qualified candidates will sit with a panel of “at least three people, named by the school’s principal, one of which will be a parent, another the athletic director. The principal can sit in if (he or she) wants.”

From there, the panel’s recommendation goes to the Board of Education for approval.

Still, can hiring of new personnel be a slippery slope?

“I think so,” Allen says. “How do you determine qualified? There is some quantitative data … more years as a coach. But there’s also qualitative: who would be a better coach. That’s more of a judgment call.”

In 2011-12, DHS fielded more than 40 teams at various levels in 27 sports; more than 1,250 students participated. That’s one of the largest turnouts in Northern California.

With no transportation money, and per-capita funds dwindling, Allen says her colleagues knew “almost four years ago” that guidelines and responsibilities for coaches and parents had to be revisited.

“For example,” Allen continues, “it is against the law to say it costs ‘X’ to play volleyball. This is a public school … contributions have to be voluntary.”

The handbooks define what a team/coach can and can’t do to fundraise.

On the heels of the much-publicized removal of a girls basketball coach in mid-season in 2010 and a false start on a coaching candidate for a recent varsity position, these new and revamped documents should provide crystal-clear guidelines.

Among the edicts, coaches cannot require a student to participate in a summer program to be eligible for a certain sport.

“It is not right on a couple of levels,” Allen says about requiring year-round involvement in one sport.

The seven-year trustee says she wants to see “kids play multiple sports, if they choose” and she believes that requiring a summer commitment, “especially if the coaches involved see personal financial gain,” is wrong.

Outlined in the manuals are mandatory meetings between coaches and parents before seasons begin, policies on dealing with alcohol and tobacco issues (including intervention guidelines), sportsmanship discussion and the chain of command for voicing concerns.

Notes: Pam Mari, the school district’s executive director of student services and secondary programs, and Matt Best, assistant superintendent for human resources, joined Foster, Superintendent Winfred Roberson, Allen and Lovenburg and the other trustees in revising and uagmenting the existing 31-page Athletic Handbook for Coaches and the 22-page Athletic Handbook for Parents/Guardians and Students. According to one DHS official, Foster has been instrumental in helping ensure the policies and procedures are distributed each season — then followed… The policies and handbooks can be viewed at www.djusd.net.

— Reach Bruce Gallaudet at [email protected] or (530) 747-8047.

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