Words fly regarding varsity athletics at Crivitz School Board meeting

CRIVITZ – A Crivitz parent and teacher has accused the school district of tolerating a “sex culture” spread by high school coaches in a “good ol’ boy club,” while other parents and teachers have levied complaints about disrespectful coaches and a lack of district leadership working to resolve the problems.

During the 30-minute public input session at the April 16 meeting, over a dozen people spoke one by one, with many asking the school board to become more involved in holding coaches to the same high standards the district holds student athletes and addressing complaints about disrespectful coaches with a reputation for retaliation.

Reached by email, Athletic Director Jeff Dorschner declined to comment on allegations made at the past two school board meetings, referring a reporter to Superintendent Kelly Robinson.

“Our school district will continue to work and reflect on our practices in order to create a positive learning environment for every student in academics and athletics,” Robinson said Monday in an email response to a reporter.

At the April 16 meeting, math teacher Jeff Ott said playing varsity girls basketball should teach players hard work translates to results on the court, but that didn’t happen.

“Instead this became a lesson on what happens when a coach values one player above everybody else on the team. When a coach makes the statement he doesn’t care who quits the team, he has lost the ability to focus on what really matters,” Ott said. “There is no room for selfish decisions when the mental health of the entire team should come first.”

After talking with Robinson, Ott said he learned the administration would like to classify the issue as a bad year by the current coach and the situation can be remedied with some changes. “That is not going to work,” Ott said.

The district knew about the coaching issues but didn’t act swiftly to resolve them, he said. The girls varsity basketball team should have received the best experience possible, he stated.

Robinson said the school district has a process for addressing complaints. “First, one person has made a complaint about girls’ basketball that has gone through the complaint process policy set by the board. While many others have come to the school board meetings in March and April to discuss their disagreement with coaching decisions and actions, they have not addressed things in a way that engages the coach, athletic director, high school principal or superintendent. They spoke at the school board meeting.”

Robinson said the school district prefers to handle complaints at the coaching level.

Ott said favoritism on the girls varsity basketball team affected morale.

“The culture of our girls athletic program has gotten so bad that I’ve had parents ask me if they can attend practices… and videotape time-out interactions between coaches and athletes,” he said. “We have student athletes who choose not to go out for sports because of who their coach is going to be,” Ott said. “This is unacceptable.”

Ott said he has talked with Robinson about the problems and suggested asking the players to complete surveys at the end of the season to provide more information before July renewal contracts are issued.

In a response to a reporter’s question about whether the school district will implement Ott’s suggestion, Robinson declined to comment.

Ott is among those who feel the school board should be held accountable. “You were voted on the board…Now is the time to accept that responsibility and find a permanent solution for our student athletes,” Ott said.

The Peshtigo Times’ request to Board President Amy Grandaw wasn’t responded to by press time.

As the Peshtigo Times earlier reported, Athletic Director Jeff Dorschner had asked the School Board to increase his compensation outside of the usual timeframe, and the board was considering this early in 2025. At the February meeting, “Athletic Director Compensation” was listed as a discussion item on the agenda. At the end of the meeting, the board went into a closed session, with a notation suggesting performance evaluations for new teachers was the primary purpose.

During public input at the March 19 school board meeting, several Crivitz parents accused the school’s coaches of screaming, belittling and intimidating players and taking the fun out of sports. At the end of the regular meeting, the school board discussed the athletic director’s compensation during a two-hour closed session and took no action.

The board also used a closed session at the end of the April 16 meeting, but did not notify remote viewers of any action taken after the closed session.

One person who spoke April 16 described a complaint policy that wasn’t followed. “You start at the bottom. There’s a chain of command. You work your way up. It seems like this has just been a witch hunt. It just makes me sick what we’ve done,” he said.

Several others said they have followed the chain of command, but the issues weren’t addressed. Parent Damon Roman, a father of 10, said he first brought complaints up through the chain of command about eight years ago. “None of them were acted on,” he said.

“School leadership will trash us parents. It’s not appropriate,” he continued.

The girls should enjoy playing basketball, he said, adding that his children have had about 30 coaches, and all but two have been amazing. “There’s a major problem with our girls varsity basketball coach,” he said. “We did the chain of command. We’re only here because nothing happened from it.”

Shirley Ott said her family also followed the chain of command to no avail. She suggested the school district interview coach candidates more closely.

The president of the booster club said he has heard complaints this year. “All I hear is how our coaches don’t care. I go to a lot of sporting events. I see these coaches in tears saying goodbye to these kids [at the end of the year]. They care; maybe they yell because they see the potential in these kids.”

Jerry Mack, a parent who has served as a volunteer coach for many years, said he doesn’t recall a coaching problem ever. “I have yet to see any coach I’ve coached with do anything wrong to a student athlete or say anything that wasn’t in a good manner,” he said.

A student athlete said playing time wasn’t the only issue. She and other teammates were fearful of being screamed at. “By the time we reach high school, we’ve lost valuable players,” she explained.

A former school board member said she would like to see more positive communication among coaches, players and parents. “I don’t think any coach should be demeaning of any child,” she said.

A parent said coaches could help to reduce anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. His daughter tore both of her ACLs, he said.

“Not once has a coach reached out to me with a plan on how we’re going to prevent blowing out any more ACLs; not one of them. There is zero accountability [here],” he said.

A girls softball coach said coaches shouldn’t be demoralizing. “Your job as the coach is to build up the players, not knock them down,” he said.

He also spoke of holding the school board accountable. “Here at the school, all the administrators and teachers hold these athletes to high standards. They’re expected to do everything by the letter of law. Well then, guess what? It’s your job to hold the coaches, teachers and the athletic director to that high letter of law.”

Justin Pusick, a parent and fourth grade teacher, said some language that high school teachers and coaches have used with students should sound alarm bells.

“From concerned citizens, I’ve compiled a list of 12 sexually vile, perverse comments spoken to psychology students, baseball players and youth basketball players all by the same person holding a leadership position in our high school. There is no doubt my list is just the tip of the iceberg. I will be submitting these to the proper channels,” he said.

Pusick said the issue wasn’t limited to one teacher. “If you look at history, there is evidence that the sex culture in the high school can be traced back many years, with high school leadership only taking action when their hand has been forced. What has been done to clean up the toxic sex culture? I would argue nothing,” he said.

For years, a varsity coach allowed an erotic gift exchange with basketball players, which embarrassed many student athletes, Pusick said. He criticized leadership for “turning a blind eye to the demorality of the elite coaches club, the good ol’ boys club.”

Pusick said rumors describing him as a manipulative disgruntled employee are laughable and corrupt. He described himself as a loyal community member and parent who feels obligated to expose corruption and abuses of power that have gone on for way too long.

“I intend to do this by shining a light in dark places,” he said.