1_beast;1523010 wrote:...and Norwayne gets ANOTHER transfer!

... or either Chippewa or Smithville.

Rittman student gets time served. Was an honor student. Reinstated to football team. This seems like a fair ending to something that should never have happened.

Well that was quick. Ritchey is a smart man to stage an intervention.

I didn't realize the assignment was to write a poem about what makes you angry. It went over so well the kids asked him to re-read it! Which he wouldn't do, to his credit. But that tells you the sentiments of the student body.

And you know what - if this is creative writing, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the assignment "what makes you angry" or the response "my crappy football team and coach". Only thing they need to do differently is give instruction that the poem not call out individuals or could be construed to call out individuals. I respect the teacher for giving these kids an avenue to get this stuff off their chests, because the athletic department and administration is obviously ignoring them. There seems to be alot of frustration in Rittman, and this young man simply had the guts to say what others are thinking. Good for him and the teacher.

Good post Jaco. I do not know the superintendent at all but can one person really deal with three different school districts fairly? It seems there is a major issue in Rittman that is hurting the school and no one seems to be involved? Brand new buildings don't attract new families. Right now if I was looking for a place to move my family to, Rittman would be the only WCAL I would not consider. And that is a shame.

Flash;1523065 wrote:Rittman student gets time served. Was an honor student. Reinstated to football team. This seems like a fair ending to something that should never have happened.

I'm sure the administration would love for this to just go away just like that. I don't think it'll be that simple and the article in the Daily Record hints that may be the case: "Julie Andre said she and her husband, Terry, might pursue legal action and “some other avenues.”"

How many days of the suspension did he already serve? If he was suspended on Monday and today (Thursday) is his first day back then that's 3 days of a 4 day suspension. Will this stay on his permanent record? Why? Like others have said he completed an assignment and even received a good grade for his effort. There's a couple missing links in the chain of events that go from reading poetry in a classroom to the principal suspending him for 4 days and removing him from the football team. I'm just curious who pushed for the punishment that just a few days later was deemed innapropriate.

He was reinstated to the football team so I guess there was a bit of over-reach there. Again, who pushed for the removal in the first place? I'll bet attendance at tomorrow night's game will be a season high with most of the fans (on both sides) screaming "PUT NICK IN! PUT NICK IN!" For those of you who will be there, please learn how to record video on your phone and post to YouTube.

The sad fact is the "problem" still remains and it's not a kid writing poetry. Dennis and the administration that hired him have made national news and look like typical entrenched bureaucrats who's first instinct is to protect their turf. They preach about the evils of bullying while demonstrating that they are masters of the art.

Very happy for the kid...he was asked to write a poem about something that made him angry, and he did. Whomever made the decision originally to suspend this young man, should lose his or her job. Probably the only way the district avoids civil action if the family pursues it.

rock turner;1523134 wrote:I'm sure the administration would love for this to just go away just like that. I don't think it'll be that simple and the article in the Daily Record hints that may be the case: "Julie Andre said she and her husband, Terry, might pursue legal action and “some other avenues.”"

How many days of the suspension did he already serve? If he was suspended on Monday and today (Thursday) is his first day back then that's 3 days of a 4 day suspension. Will this stay on his permanent record? Why? Like others have said he completed an assignment and even received a good grade for his effort. There's a couple missing links in the chain of events that go from reading poetry in a classroom to the principal suspending him for 4 days and removing him from the football team. I'm just curious who pushed for the punishment that just a few days later was deemed innapropriate.

He was reinstated to the football team so I guess there was a bit of over-reach there. Again, who pushed for the removal in the first place? I'll bet attendance at tomorrow night's game will be a season high with most of the fans (on both sides) screaming "PUT NICK IN! PUT NICK IN!" For those of you who will be there, please learn how to record video on your phone and post to YouTube.

The sad fact is the "problem" still remains and it's not a kid writing poetry. Dennis and the administration that hired him have made national news and look like typical entrenched bureaucrats who's first instinct is to protect their turf. They preach about the evils of bullying while demonstrating that they are masters of the art.

Excellent post, top to bottom.

National news now. Oh, Rittman, what have you done??

This is what happens when you don't address problems and just hope they go away. They don't. They blow up in your face.

I wasn't even aware that our local star WR's brother was the OC. What a disaster. And in addition to my rant about dads coaching their sons, athletic directors should not be allowed to be coaches, either. You've destroyed any checks and balances by eliminating supervision within your athletic program.

jaco;1523208 wrote:National news now. Oh, Rittman, what have you done??

Just Googled it out of curiosity.

It's in papers from New York city to Washington state.

That's gonna be a big fire to snuff out with all the kindling from across the country.

He may very well get the answer to his line: "Where's my scholarship?"

Glad things are turning out better for him, he seems like a good kid that's willing to stand up for himself.

Hunter

rock turner;1523134 wrote:I'm sure the administration would love for this to just go away just like that. I don't think it'll be that simple and the article in the Daily Record hints that may be the case: "Julie Andre said she and her husband, Terry, might pursue legal action and “some other avenues.”"

How many days of the suspension did he already serve? If he was suspended on Monday and today (Thursday) is his first day back then that's 3 days of a 4 day suspension. Will this stay on his permanent record? Why? Like others have said he completed an assignment and even received a good grade for his effort. There's a couple missing links in the chain of events that go from reading poetry in a classroom to the principal suspending him for 4 days and removing him from the football team. I'm just curious who pushed for the punishment that just a few days later was deemed innapropriate.

He was reinstated to the football team so I guess there was a bit of over-reach there. Again, who pushed for the removal in the first place? I'll bet attendance at tomorrow night's game will be a season high with most of the fans (on both sides) screaming "PUT NICK IN! PUT NICK IN!" For those of you who will be there, please learn how to record video on your phone and post to YouTube.

The sad fact is the "problem" still remains and it's not a kid writing poetry. Dennis and the administration that hired him have made national news and look like typical entrenched bureaucrats who's first instinct is to protect their turf. They preach about the evils of bullying while demonstrating that they are masters of the art.

Ritchey made the comment already to let them try and sue of course in his sarcastic manner. This is such an injustice it makes me sick. They all should get fired and just start over period. As mentioned this has gone national and they will have many lawyers knocking on their door to help them out. I hope they get what they deserve. Rittman needs something to wake them up. Ritchey wake up and take care of you old school.

This is exactly why an athletic director should be just that. Not a coach. Not a teacher. Not a dean of students.

If they had a real athletic director he could have made sure the football program never got to this point. An athletic director should be supervising the coaches. He can't do that when hes coaching and can't supervise himself.

It sad that schools nowadays won't pay for just an athletic director. They want the AD to wear multiple hats, which takes away from his job. It might cost a little extra money, but its better than a lawsuit.

Hopefully they get this corrected.

On that note, I am preparing my cover letter and resume.

JJ68;1523326 wrote:This is exactly why an athletic director should be just that. Not a coach. Not a teacher. Not a dean of students.

If they had a real athletic director he could have made sure the football program never got to this point. An athletic director should be supervising the coaches. He can't do that when hes coaching and can't supervise himself.

It sad that schools nowadays won't pay for just an athletic director. They want the AD to wear multiple hats, which takes away from his job. It might cost a little extra money, but its better than a lawsuit.

Hopefully they get this corrected.

On that note, I am preparing my cover letter and resume.

I don't mind a teacher also being the AD, but I agree that an AD shouldn't be a coach. Technically, a person could be good at it, but the danger certainly outweighs any advantage.

Dennis better hope that he has enough years to retire because after he steps down, gets fired, or whatever at Rittman...he doesn't have a chance of getting a job ANYWHERE in the country. Way to go out as a winner Bill...what a JOKE!

He sucked as an asst at Orrville
He sucked as a coach at Trotwood
He sucked as a coach at London
He sucked as a coach at West Holmes
He sucks at Rittman

Nice resume!!!

I don't like a teacher being AD simply because there is so much that goes into each job.

I dont think a teacher should be using their planning periods to do the AD job and ADs having plenty of work to do instead of teaching, if they are doing their job correctly.

I have an education degree with a concentraion in sport management so I might be a little biased.

JJ68;1523326 wrote:This is exactly why an athletic director should be just that. Not a coach. Not a teacher. Not a dean of students.

If they had a real athletic director he could have made sure the football program never got to this point. An athletic director should be supervising the coaches. He can't do that when hes coaching and can't supervise himself.

It sad that schools nowadays won't pay for just an athletic director. They want the AD to wear multiple hats, which takes away from his job. It might cost a little extra money, but its better than a lawsuit.

Hopefully they get this corrected.

On that note, I am preparing my cover letter and resume.

I think school funding and the issues there makes being able to do that in a lot of places kind of a pipe dream. While not Wayne County, I live in a place which is primarily rural schools.

One of them set up a rule where the AD can't be a head coach after a period where the AD was the FB coach and there were certain community issues with him after a while (football team entered a down period, alleged preference towards football at expense of other programs, certain influential players looking at poor current FB team performance while noticing their children were entering the high school program, etc.). This led to this huge cluster of bizarre things.

1. Next AD was the head softball coach. Due to ruling, her and her assistant just switched titles, although everyone knew that she was the "real" head coach regardless.

2. AD job turned into a combination AD/Dean of Students/study hall monitor job.

3. She left and the new AD was the new head FB coach, who was more popular at his job, costing the school a good coach. For his part, he didn't want to give up coaching, but like many younger, energetic teachers, was interested in moving forward and keeping administrative criteria, so getting an admin position at that stage of his career was too good to pass up for him and his family.

4. Next AD was just asst. basketball coach and current one does no coaching, but they are also Dean of Students, so there's no specialized AD position. I don't think any of the ADs just do that. One is a teacher and the other two both have admin positions.

I know there are some ADs around here that arr only ADs.

If you look at the two recent big black eyes, Rittman and Smithville, they both had AD who had other responsibilites.

Anither job of an AD is to raise funds. A full time one might be able to pay for himself.

But anyways, something isn't right in Rittman.

Glad to see the kid was allowed back on the football team. Hopefully coach Dennis is a professional and doesn't take it out on the kid

JJ68;1523392 wrote:Hopefully coach Dennis is a professional ...

Negative, Ghost Rider.

Mr Dennis has been ran out everywhere he has coached. What does that tell you? He brought this on himself by promoting his son and HIS SON only on the football team. It is a team sport not an individual sport. But anyways from what the rumor mill states is that he is no longer coaching and the defensive coach is coaching the last 2 games and his two kids have transferred to Orrville.

Slick Rick;1523433 wrote:Mr Dennis has been ran out everywhere he has coached. What does that tell you? He brought this on himself by promoting his son and HIS SON only on the football team. It is a team sport not an individual sport. But anyways from what the rumor mill states is that he is no longer coaching and the defensive coach is coaching the last 2 games and his two kids have transferred to Orrville.

Well now isn't that interesting...Orrville huh? What a surprise? Man, this story just gets better and better....

wcalfan;1523456 wrote:Well now isn't that interesting...Orrville huh? What a surprise? Man, this story just gets better and better....

With the new transfer rules, means sitting out 1/2 season in each respective sport participated in the previous year. However, if this rumor is in fact true, Orrville would be the best fit for the young Dennis boy, as the Rider track program would benefit him in the grand scheme.

If the kids are transferring, that would be a smart thing. I imagine the teasing going on at school would have gotten pretty bad. I can just imagine that with the bball season coming up, the Dennis boy would have gotten some major ridicule at league games. I would say a school further away than Orrville might have been a better move but at least they got out of the WCAL where EVERYONE knows what is going on.

1_beast;1523462 wrote:With the new transfer rules, means sitting out 1/2 season in each respective sport participated in the previous year. However, if this rumor is in fact true, Orrville would be the best fit for the young Dennis boy, as the Rider track program would benefit him in the grand scheme.

I guess so....AND the Orrville girls bball program will benefit immensely with the addition of his sophomore sister. This whole thing doesn't feel right to me AT ALL.

If the rumor is true (coach resigned, kids transferred), that would be the best thing for all parties in this ugly little drama.


On another note...

How bout them Huskies!

4-24 doesnt feel good either I wouldnt think.