NORWICH – Norwich City School District's monthly Board of Education meeting on Wednesday night, Oct. 19, was held in front of a room full of spectators who were eager to play a part in the Board's decision of passing the personnel recommendations for sports coaches in the upcoming winter season, particularly in the reappointment of Norwich girls varsity basketball head coach Josh Bennett.
Thirteen people spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting offering their support of Bennett, as well as their two-cents on how they believe the Board should come to make informed decisions. In consideration of the large amount of attendees, the Board passed a motion to move the public comment portion ahead of the personnel recommendations on the agenda in order to hear everybody's opinion.
Norwich Athletic Director Joe Downey was among the first of the speakers, saying, “I am here to address a potentially flawed process in regards to the annual coaching appointments–appointments that are made by me, given to the Superintendent, and are then forwarded to the Board.”
Downey acknowledged that there are times when game time passion and desire to win have blurred the vision of some coaches, but he views it as his responsibility as Athletic Director to align that vision with that of Norwich athletics.
“If there is an issue with my recommendations, I believe it should be communicated to me in a manner that requires ample time to correct the area's concern,” Downey concluded.
Todd Hansen, a parent of two student athletes at Norwich, spoke soon after and said, “As an executive officer with hundreds of employees and a very active Board of Directors myself, I work closely with them and have firsthand experience with some of the difficult decisions that a Board has to make–and this is not one of them.”
Among the themes of the many comments over the course of the evening was the belief that passion is imperative to a successful team atmosphere, and that while some may construe that as troublesome, it's an important quality to have in not only athletics, but in education and in life.
