School Board gathers information before permanent Athletic Director search

At the regular school board meeting on February 25, 2026, the Elma School Board moved one step closer in the search for a permanent athletic director. Current Athletic Director Ken Ashlock has done a fantastic job; however, his title is Interim. Superintendent Chris Nesmith offered an abundance of information to help guide the board in their decision.

Nesmith noted three basic options exist: hire a certified teacher under our ETO contract, hire a certified administrator under our EAA contract, or hire an admin exempt candidate for the role, which would be individually bargained. The ETO contract is for 180 days, which would mean the District would want to build out an additional amount of time because teaching contracts begin on the first day of school in September, but an athletic director would need to organize schedules and a range of other items beginning in August. Because the certified administrator salary schedule includes 210 days, this would be less of a concern and the cost difference between a certified teacher and certified administrator becomes less significant.

In either certified position, the athletic director role could be split up with another position, either teaching or administration. The budgets could be pulled separately, too, either instruction or general education and the athletics budget.

One major advantage to hiring a certified administrator is they have the power to deal immediately and directly with any instances of bullying, harassment, etc. A teacher or admin exempt, on the other hand, would need to refer it to a certified administrator. An immediate action may be made (removing a student-athlete from a game for conduct), but longer-ranging actions, such as suspension, would have to be performed by a certified administrator.

Nesmith recommended the certified administrator route to the board because it offers great benefit when problematic situations arise and at very little difference in cost. Additionally, mandated federal reporting, such as title IX, requires a certified administrator. Evaluations of coaches must also be completed by a certified administrator. Board member Bernadette Bower agreed with Nesmith that there is appeal in hiring an individual who can tackle problems head-on while not needing to wait to address an issue. Board member Stephanie Smith agreed in principle with hiring an admin figure but felt like the exempt option might be appealing, too, due to possibly not needing evaluative privileges, a smaller volume of federal reporting, or smaller numbers of disciplinary action due to our district size. For instance, she noted it may not be so bad to issue something serious like a suspension away from the heat of the moment. She also noted most neighboring districts have admin exempts in the athletic director role.

Several board members shared thoughts aloud, wondering how our district can find the largest pool possible while still adhering to appropriate hiring practices. Nesmith argued the district could open the position to either certified admin or admin exempt and still ask for similar job qualifications. The difficult challenge is considering cost because a part admin, part AD could make a lot of sense financially and would require a certified admin. A part-time AD posting for an admin exempt would be a totally different posting. So, the posting would likely need to decipher which of the three options we determine is best for our district.

Board members agree we’ll need to decide soon with fall planning looming. Nesmith said he’s certainly received no shortage of interest from plenty of certified admin and admin exempt candidates who want to work in athletics and specifically want to be in Elma.

Other points:

·The board unanimously passed an agreement with New Market Skills Center for the 2026-27 school year. This will serve junior and senior EHS students who qualify and wish to participate. Students would attend EHS half-time and NMSC half-time and gain valuable career-specific skills.

·The board unanimously passed The Scholar First agreement to work on building a new strategic plan.

·The board welcomed new EPD Chief Tracy Gay; noted progress on the $1.2 million soccer fields; noted the achievements of our winter sports, including a wrestling team that finish 4^th in the State and had a repeat State champion in Xavier Espinoza and a boys basketball team that qualified for State.