Plains coach resigns at special meeting

Plains School Board members held a special board meeting last Thursday in order to get coaches hired before school sports start in August.

Board member Lana Dicken made the motion to rehire Kati Mitchell as the head softball coach. The motion was seconded by member Ellen Childress, but before a vote could be taken Mitchell spoke up to give her resignation. "The lack of trust and support from the school board has made it increasingly challenging for me to fulfill my duties effectively as a coach," said Mitchell, who has coached the team for the last 10 years and teaches at the school. Mitchell was too emotional to read her statement at first and was assisted by teacher Lisa Brown, who read the first portion of the letter. However, Mitchell was able to regain her composure and finished, although she again became teary-eyed toward the end.

"Despite my best efforts to foster communication and understanding, I have felt unsupported and under a microscope in my role this last year," said Mitchell. She added that she hopes that a process will be put in place to guide the school to help make educated decisions about coaches. "I have always believed that trust and adherence to established protocols are the cornerstones of a successful and cohesive program. Unfortunately, I have found the school board's actions to be inconsistent with these principles. The lack of trust exhibited by the board, along with their repeated disregard for proper protocol in coaching situations, has made it impossible for me to continue in this role with the integrity and effectiveness that I strive to maintain," she said to the board with a dozen people in attendance.

"I want to remind the board to take caution in turning away the people who are committed and invested in our students. When we spend years supporting our students, our board should in turn value and support us," said teacher Nichole Cockrell in support of Mitchell's statement.

Jon Zigler, Mitchell's assistant coach last season, wanted to go on record with the board of his positive perspective of Mitchell and her coaching capabilities and that she was always open to his suggestions. "At no time did I ever witness Coach Mitchell do anything that would have gone against MSHA policy or anything against what would have been positive, for the good of the team and the good of the girls," said Zigler, who has served as a youth head baseball coach for several years. "She did the best, I felt, that she could with the tools that she had," he said. Softball season doesn't start until spring, but with Mitchell turning down the coach position, it will have to be posted for other candidates.

The members also held the special board meeting in an effort to get the dual sports policy, the athletic handbook and the extracurricular fundraising guidelines in place prior to the school's first day of fall practices for volleyball, cross country and football. Practice begins on Aug. 16, but the next regularly scheduled school board meeting is Aug. 19. The first game of the season is a football game against Victor on Aug. 31.

The school's new athletic director, Russell Kujala, submitted a draft of the three documents, but the board members said they wanted to make some fine tune modifications. They tabled all three and planned another special meeting this week. There were a few items that members felt needed clarification.

The hiring of Jessica Butcher as the assistant volleyball coach was unanimously approved.