Live Oak’s athletic department received a jolt as two long-time Acorns decided to step down from their respective positions touching off a fire storm on social media this past week.
Citing disagreements with administration, Athletic Director Mark Cummins and baseball coach CJ Goularte tendered their resignations from their athletic positions.
Cummins officially gave notice of his intent to leave on May 4 and Goularte stepped down officially on Aug. 15.
The issue came down to Cummins wanting the AD position to be in line with other districts and could no longer wait for the Morgan Hill Unified School District to decide if his request to be a full time AD would be fulfilled.
“I am proud of the athletic tradition at Live Oak High School and so it is extremely disappointing that the District I have spent the past 30 years (serving) does not recognize what surrounding Districts do in supporting athletics with full-time Athletic Directors (even Gilroy and Christopher High School have full-time Athletic Directors!!),” Cummins said in a statement. “The job has grown immensely over the years but the compensation in MHUSD has not. It is not about the money, but the time to do the job that our student-athletes deserve.”
Cummins served as the AD, department chair for the physical education department as well as teaching four periods of PE. He took over the AD position in 2003/2004 after serving five years as the assistant athletic director.
He said he wanted to be able to take on the athletics responsibility full time but was not seeing movement from the school.
“Also, site administration’s inability the last few years to accommodate a workable teaching schedule and lack of supervision at athletic events also contributed to my decision to step down,” Cummins stated.
Principal Lloyd Webb said the district had started a comparable study a few months before Cummins officially stepped down.
Fawn Myers, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for MHUSD, said they started the study in the spring and has re-upped it now that schools are back in session.
She said the district is attempting to receive comparable information from districts, including how many students schools have where they employ a fulltime AD, how much time is allocated to the position, base pay and designation of the position—ie if the position is considered a teacher or an administrator.
Webb added if the district were to determine if the AD should go full time, it would then need to go before the teacher’s union as part of yearly negotiations.
He said Cummins was offered a chance to wait out the process, but he turned it down.
Webb said he has hired Lawrence Crawford as the new athletic director. He said Crawford has been a sub in the district and teaches courses at San Jose City College.
Webb added that he also hired James Fortino as the assistant athletic director.
Webb will serve as acting AD until both get rolling in their new positions.
Although Webb said he was disappointed by Cummins’ decision to step down, he nonetheless holds Cummins in the highest regard.
“He was really good at what he did. Mark really did great job at building the sports program’s reputation to what it is today,” Webb said. “I have absolutely nothing but respect and admiration for the job he did and just want to thank him for everything he did for Live Oak sports.”
Webb said the priority now is to make sure the athletic year continues without a hiccup.
“Our goal has been—and it will continue to be regardless what happens—that sports will go on unabated,” Webb said. “That is my No. 1 objective as principal and acting AD until the other guys get up and running.”
Goularte—who had played under Cummins on the Live Oak baseball team through 2001 and coached under Cummins before taking over the program in 2011—stepped down from his position in a sign of solidarity.
“As the athletic director, Mark did more than anyone will ever know,” Goularte said in a text message. “He is widely respected by his peers throughout the Central Coast Section. It’s a sad day when he is simply replaced, without the district giving any consideration to his concerns and rationale for stepping down.”
Both Goularte and Cummins are still on staff as teachers. Goularte teaches history while Cummins remains as department chair of phys ed.
“It saddens me that’s decision he made, but I have to respect CJ’s decision,” Webb said. “But his most valuable role has been and continues to be that he’s an excellent classroom teacher.”
