Stew-Stras Says Yes to Rehiring Volleyball Coaches, Windsor Board Says No; Now What?

This is the first year of an agreement under which the Stewardson-Strasburg and Windsor school district joined all of their high school sports teams.

Now, there's a fly in the ointment.

The Windsor school board voted 5-1 with one abstention not to rehire Ronda Schlechte and Marsha Friedrich as the varsity and JV volleyball coaches. The vote comes after the Stew-Stras school board voted to rehire both women.

The question now is, where do the districts go from here?

Windsor Superintendent Gavin Sronce said he isn't sure yet how they will proceed. Sronce said he has spoken a number of times with Stew-Stras Superintendent Michele Lindenmeyer since the vote about the situation. The final decision on personnel matters, though, rests with the school boards.

As far as the Windsor board vote, Matt Bennett who serves as board president, abstained from the vote since his daughter is on the team. Member Stacy Cole, whose daughter is also on the team, was the only board member to vote against the motion not to rehire.

For her part, Lindenmeyer said her district is "shocked and disappointed at the decision, but we're going to work to keep the volleyball program a viable part of the co-op".

The Windsor board did vote to rehire Scott Dow as the golf coach. 

In other personnel matters, the Windsor board accepted resignations from Jacob McIlwain as assistant varsity baseball coach and from Dale Normile as a bus driver, and hired Amy Greuel as junior high track coach and Olivia Oller as third grade classroom aide.

A resignation was also accepted from David Pauley as unit transportation director, with Pauley agreeing to remain on the job until a replacement is found.

The Windsor board also approved some policy updates, including one allowing high school credit to be given for an 8th grade Math class, and another governing concussion protocol.