Although the school board offered its support for a shift to employing full-time athletic directors at each of the district’s high schools, Morgan Hill Unified’s brass stopped short of guaranteeing the positions and only requested approval of a revised job description.
The seven-member board granted that recommendation with a 7-0 vote in favor of the job title, but also urged district staff to spruce up the pay scale for the athletic director position so it would not only be attractive to top candidates but also keep them around longer than a couple of years.
“We are doing students disservice if we don’t have an AD who can put in the time,” said Trustee Ron Woolf, who was in favor of adding full-time positions at the Live Oak and Ann Sobrato high schools. “I personally think especially in high school those positions are key.”
District staff put together a committee to study what other districts did for their athletic director positions at the secondary level and mentioned the different ways the full-time equivalent employee, or FTE, is used at other high schools.
However, a final determination on which way the district will go at its two high schools that host competitive sports programs remains unsettled. Currently, they both have part-time athletic directors doing what other districts consider more of a full-time position.
“We understand the value of the position,” Superintendent Steve Betando said.
Last year, former LOHS athletic director Mark Cummins resigned the position after failing to convince district leaders to make the job a full-time gig and release him from his teaching duties. Cummins had served as the AD, department chair for the physical education department as well as teaching four periods of PE. He was not part of the committee that researched and gave input on the athletic director job. But Betando said he received input from Cummins prior to the formation of the committee.
“It’s a full-time job at every high school in the county,” said Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers President Gemma Abels, who also supported a shift from part-time to full-time ADs.
The athletic director item on the March 21 agenda listed an annual salary of up to $95,000, but it did not stipulate if that was for one full-time position at each of the high schools or the total amount for two part-time employees with other campus or classroom responsibilities.
A job listing on edjoin.org reveals that an athletic director with Los Altos High School must be a certificated teacher with an 80/20 split between AD duties (80 percent) and physical education teacher (20 percent). The salary range is $74,858 to $132,019.
At nearby Gilroy Unified School District, an athletic director is a full-time certificated position that must have a single subject credential (usually in physical education) at its two high schools. They are placed in the certificated teacher salary schedule for 186 work days, which includes an additional 13 days to prepare for the athletics program in August before school starts.
Board members were confused by the wording on the agenda, but district staff clarified all they wanted was an approval of the job description and then would continue to review the best course of action for the athletic director positions.
“The revised job description and placement on (Morgan Hill Education Leaders Association) salary schedule allows the position to be assigned as partial or full FTE, depending on the site’s needs and budget priorities,” according to the agenda item.
Construction project jobs pass without inquiries
While the full-time AD position was not a slam dunk, a new construction project supervisor position at a similar salary was quickly approved at the same March 21 meeting.
The board unanimously approved the new position—one that comes with an $87,000 maximum price tag—as well as a revised job description for the current construction project planner.
The supervisor position, which is on the Morgan Hill Educational Leaders Association pay scale, will be paid for with funds from the $198 million Measure G capital improvements bond passed by voters in November 2012.
Director of Construction Casino Fajardo stressed the importance of having a third member of his project management staff to join him and the existing construction project planner.
The supervisor role “is a Measure G funded position to interact directly with contractors, builders, and inspectors at sites with Measure G funded construction projects,” according to the agenda. The planner “plans and coordinates projects with district staff, outside agencies and contractors,” reads the job description attached to the March 21 agenda.
Abels questioned whether the new position could be paid out of the Measure G funds and read from the measure that stated, “no funds for administrator salaries and all funds spent on local schools.”
However, Assistant Superintendent Kirsten Perez responded by identifying a passage on page 5 of the measure stipulating that the Measure G monies could go to specific construction project job positions. Perez continued that Fajardo’s salary, which is north of $131,000, is also paid with measure funds since his hiring in 2015 and it has passed through several audits on bond expenses without any infraction.
