Published: Aug. 15, 2015
Turmoil continues in East girls program
Search committee member discloses interview process
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
Deb Geidel believes her time was wasted when it came to
helping find a new girls basketball coach at West Bend East.
And maybe the most troubling part for her was she had no
idea who the new girls basketball coach at East was until she read it in a
Daily News article. That’s despite serving on the selection committee.
“If the school district is saying the selection committee
made the choice, when I left the meeting, I had no idea who was going to be
chosen until I read it in the newspaper,” Geidel said.
On July 27, six groups of parents sent a letter to West Bend
School District Superintendent Ted Neitzke demanding answers over the
district’s decision to hire Travis Graf as the Suns’ girls basketball coach.
“The student-athletes believe their progress has been
stunted by a coach with limited playing experience, lack of coaching expertise
and a general detachment to the school and community,” the letter said.
The letter also questions why Ron Larson wasn’t hired.
“Why would Principal (Bill) Greymont, an advocate for
studentathletes, compare the two resumes of Graf and Larson and deem Graf more
qualified merely by the fact he has ‘head coach’ listed on his resume and has a
teacher’s license?” it said. “Five years as a head JV boys coach at a large
high school greatly outweighs one year at a high school of 53 students.”
Larson wants the process redone.
“What’s in the best interest of these kids?” Larson asked.
“What should be happening right now? What should’ve this summer been like? It
wasn’t the way it should’ve been. Why is that? What the heck is going on?
“We’ve had two or three months to review some things and see
what would happen. It hasn’t happened.”
Greymont said keeping this matter going is more damaging to
the kids.
“If people are concerned, they need to talk to Valley
Elliehausen,” said Neitzke, referring to the chief operating officer in the
human resources department for the school district.
When reached for comment Friday, Greymont reiterated the
proper procedures were followed.
“We collected the forms and everybody was able to speak who
they believe was acceptable and arrived at who they felt was capable of doing
the job,” he said.
Two candidates were removed from contention based on that
discussion, Greymont said. The other three were then discussed between he and
East Athletic Director Shane Hansen, based on the notes from the search
committee.
“We’ve gone through our process,” Greymont said. “It’s
finished.”
He added people are upset because they didn’t get what they
wanted and someone’s feelings got hurt.
Geidel said the committee consisted of herself, Greymont,
Hansen, two unidentified teachers and an unidentified member of the team.
“Right from the start, my gut feeling said (Greymont) was
running the show,” Geidel said. “That was my gut feeling because the teachers
were very quiet during this whole process.”
“My second gut feeling was I was chosen because I was the
loudmouth inquiring about the (Don) Gruber thing,” she added. “Did they have me
on here to shut me up because at no point did they say they tried other
parents? I don’t know. After this interview process, I walk away saying ‘Why
was I even here?’” The East vacancy came up March 23 when Gruber was fired
after six seasons.
Graf was hired as the girls basketball coach in June.
Since then, the frustration has grown seemingly by day.
Several district employees have reached out to the Daily
News, but declined to go on record because of the fear of losing their jobs.
Geidel declined to disclose the names of the other search
committee members because she was afraid of potential repercussions.
“That’s what I’m sensing,” she said. “Why did we chose this
committee in the first place?”
❑
What was the process?
According to Geidel, the interview process transpired like
this: She got a phone call at home May 22 from Hansen asking if she’d be
interested in being a part of the search committee.
“They didn’t tell me what the makeup of this committee would
be,” Geidel said. “They said they got my name because I was a parent of a past
player. So I thought, ‘OK. I’d be more than happy to because it would’ve either
been me or my husband.’” Geidel’s daughter, Natalie, played basketball at East
and will be a sophomore next season on Viterbo University’s volleyball team.
Deb Geidel is a human resources analyst for the city of West
Bend.
“I served on selection committees before,” she said. “I work
in HR. So I was like, ‘I can do that.’” Not long after agreeing to be on the committee,
she received an email from Hansen telling her four interviews were going to
take place May 26. They were to be at 4 p.m, 5 p.m, 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.
She didn’t have any names for those interviews.
On the morning of May 26, she received an email stating a
fifth candidate was added.
At the interview sessions, she was surprised to see who was
there, outside of the current player.
“My assumption, having served on these selection committees
before, would be other coaches, obviously the athletic director and some other
parents,” Geidel said. “So the makeup of this selection committee, I thought it
was lopsided of school district versus neutral, as far as opinions.'
Geidel said something else was odd about the process.
'Selection committees, there’s usually something I have to
review at least during the time of the interview,' she said. 'There was none of
that. I didn’t have anything to look at. I’m basing it off what was stated in
the interviews by the interviewees.”
She also believed the teachers involved in the process were
limited.
“I got the impression the teachers would make eye contact
with Greymont to kind of approve what they said or didn’t say,” Geidel said.
“That’s how I felt. The poor student, what are they going to say? Really?”
Greymont denied that allegation.
❑
After the interview
Geidel said each selection committee member filled out a
form and wrote down notes about each candidate and ranked them. Then they were
handed to Hansen.
“I would’ve expected that we would’ve discussed each
candidate,” Geidel said.
Geidel added she ranked Larson at the top of her list of the
interviewed candidates. She also said Larson was the one that was added late.
She was impressed with Larson.
“None of them truly had a plan,” Geidel said about the other
applicants. “Ron came in and had this book. I was very impressed with his
layout. He could, literally, step into the program tomorrow and run everything.
He had everything laid out. I was surprised, but it was a good surprise.”
The next time Geidel said she heard anything about the new
coach, it was in the newspaper.
“I didn’t know what that recommendation was,” she said.
“I do know that one of the other committee members, he and I
had a conversation, and he and I graded both Graf and Larson the same way,”
Geidel added.
❑
What’s next?
Greymont stands by his decision and Geidel is fine with it.
“First all, they’ve made the decision,” Geidel said. “If
they want to keep it, that’s perfectly fine. I guess what I was most annoyed by
was that Ron has done a lot with the youth program, a lot with the booster
club.
“They need to make amends with him. They’ve shunned him and
I don’t like that. I don’t know if you want to give in to the parents per se,
but I also think there should be some communication to those parents saying
this is who we chose, you need to honor who we chose. We understand you’re
frustrated. But to not get any answers ticks people off.”
Greymont said he has met and talked to each person who has
reached out to him.
“(Graf is) our coach,” Greymont said.
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