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Brentwood High volunteer coach pushed parents to pay him fees, internal investigation findsPublished by
The investigation also found Brentwood High School's Principal Kevin Keidel and athletic director Ron Seigenthaler knew about the complaints for several years and did not take action to remedy or handle the situation. Avery denied the investigation findings. He said he was not interviewed for the investigation and it did not include dozens of parents who supported him. "This was a hunk of junk in my opinion," he said. Avery said he entered private coaching one-year agreements with athletes in the off-season. He said he never charged any athlete during the season who did not already have a pre-existing private agreement. He also said varsity rosters were purely based on merit. "Running is very simple. If you were one of the top seven runners, which is what a varsity team is, you were on that team," Avery said. "You never, ever had to be coached by me to be on the varsity team." As a volunteer coach, Avery said he showed up to practice for 30 minutes every Monday to go over weekly goals for the varsity cross country teams. He said he was reimbursed by parents for hotel rooms. Each WCS employee and coach involved in these violations received discipline deemed appropriate for them, Williamson County Director of Schools Mike Looney wrote in a letter to parents in late July. Keidel was suspended for one day without pay, Looney said. Avery refused to meet and did not comply with the investigation, according to the investigation. Some of the coaches have chosen to no longer work for the district, Looney wrote. Parents had mixed feelings about the situation, Looney wrote. "Some of you expressed unhappiness with our ethical standards, arguing that we should allow tutoring for pay, allow use of the facilities by our coaches for their personal profit, etc.," Looney wrote. "Others expressed frustration with those coaches based on a feeling of being 'trapped' into paying them directly for their services because they had authority over your children at BHS and you were afraid to refuse," he wrote. "The latter example is a practical reason why these conflict-of-interest standards exist." Other schools did not have the same problems, Looney wrote. Keidel emailed parents in March informing them of their revised athletic policies. "No member of our coaching staff can, is, or will be receiving any payment other than the official district coaching supplement," Keidel wrote. "More specifically, our employees cannot charge you additional fees above and beyond the $100 athletic participation fee." "This includes any in and/or out of season work that coaches and players do individually. Also, no for-profit businesses can use our athletic facilities at any time," he said. Keidel also wrote that every Brentwood High athlete must be at all practices unless a coach excuses their absence. Reach Melanie Balakit at [email protected]. Amended policy The investigation at Brentwood High contributed to the policy adjustments, said WCS spokeswoman Carol Birdsong. The following was added to Policy 5.608, Academic, Athletic or Arts-related tutoring or private instruction for pay:
Policy 3.206, Community use of school facilities:
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