Columbia track members and parents packed the South Orange-Maplewood School Board meeting Thursday night to support the Cross Country and Track and Field coaches whose jobs had been in jeopardy, but, in the end, were renewed.
Superintendent of Schools Jason Bing was met with cheers and applause at the start of the meeting when he told the standing-room only crowd that coaches Alex Simon and Michael Johnson were put back on the agenda to be included in the vote to renew personnel.
Still, one after another, students spoke of the dedication of Simon and Johnson and said that they are responsible for the success of the program. Alumni, some now running track in college, attended virtually or sent letters to advocate for their former coaches.
Students, alumni and parents told stories of how the coaches helped create strong bonds among the team and that students know how much the coaches care for them and that for many, they have been the one constant throughout their high school years.
They also expressed anger that they learned just the day prior that their coaches’ contracts would not be renewed and that the Athletics Department would try to remove them in middle of the school year, potentially dismantling a successful program and ruining their spring season.
“You jeopardize the entire structure of the team regardless of who is hired as a replacement,” said Caroline Shaw, one of the team’s captains. “This abrupt change undermines the consistency and stability that Coach Simon and Coach Johnson have built over their 11 seasons.”
Shaw said it will be “extremely difficult to replace a coach who was named Essex County Coach of the Year, two years in a row, who consistently gave far more to this program that was ever required of him or compensate or he was compensated for.”
Another captain, Levi Tabor-Kewene, said the team is sending more than a dozen athletes to the upcoming Nike Nationals in New York and that wouldn’t be possible without Simon’s leadership.
“Both coaches take their time with every athlete to understand not only their needs as an athlete, but who they are as a person,” he added. “Coach Simon creates a lineup for every meet we go to for cross country, winter and spring track. He constructs every relay and every individual race for invitationals, championships and even national competitions.”
Parents also encouraged Board members to vote to renew the coaches who have created an inclusive team that gives students a sense of belonging and helps them through difficult times.
Student BOE representative Penn Shapiro thanked the Board for renewing the coaches but also called the District to task on how it was handled.
“Deeply concerning was the lack of transparency by the District and the Athletic Department regarding the situation that was going on,” he said. “Students woke up this morning to student group chats and rumors that their coaches were fired. Communication lines were cut for spring track. The Google classroom was deleted. You know, scheduling for meets in the spring was totally in limbo. And again, I want to reiterate, I’m incredibly grateful by the decision that was made tonight. That doesn’t go lost. This joins a pattern at Columbia this year where there has been a mismanagement of certain athletics programs and a lack of communication by the Athletics Department.”
The crowd erupted in applause, and Shapiro went on to say a similar thing happened in the fall with wrestling, where he is a captain, but the wrestling coach was not renewed.
“I’m glad the current crisis was averted, but I want the Board and the Athletics Department to think about how to answer my last question, which is, how can students, families, and how can coaches and staff be certain that this pattern will not continue into the future?”
The crowd also cheered when the Board voted unanimously to renew Simon and Johnson and thanked the students for advocating for their coaches and for themselves.
(Students, parents and teachers also advocated for fully including Junot Diaz’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao in the AP Literature curriculum. More to come on that as well as other discussions in the five-hour meeting.)
CHS Student Reps Scarlet Strogov and Penn Shapiro, amplified student voices at the meeting.
The meeting can be watched here. Public speaks begins around the 2:22:00 mark and students speaking about coaches starts at 2:15:00. Parents and alumni speaking about track coaches begins at about the 3:27:00 mark.
