Schools officials to take second look at coach evaluations

Administrators with Libby Public Schools are reviewing the district’s coaching assessment process after discussing staff evaluations with board members.

While school officials review coaches annually, the process isn’t formally codified, according to Jim Germany, Libby athletic director. The end of the year reports often involve discussions over a coach’s strengths and weaknesses but generally do not include signed assessments like those required in teacher evaluations.

“As for the formality of the signed piece of paper, that has never been required of the activities department,” said Germany during a Dec. 6 board meeting.

Requiring formal assessments for athletic top brass shouldn’t be an issue since the district has 14 head coaches. Including Libby’s assistant coaches would boost the number of evaluations to more than 50 and could make the process cumbersome, Germany said. Previously, head coaches and administrators have made annual verbal agreements over whether to retain assistant coaches for the coming year.

Germany said officials could create an evaluation that head coaches could administer to assistants. He also suggested codifying the district’s policy on offering “due process” to coaches hired yearly.

“If you’re talking about a one-year contract, giving someone due process and a chance to improve is common sense, it’s the right thing to do,” he told board members. “But it’s not necessary, according to your agreement. That’s why we’ll be putting it in here.”

Beyond the nitty-gritty of the evaluations, Germany asked if board members had any overarching questions about how the district managed coaches.

“This process is something I’ve done forever,” he said. “But obviously you may have some questions or even trust issues. ‘Is it done the way it’s supposed to be done,’ because that sounds like it might be an underlying question for you,” he said.

Lori Benson, board chair, said including annual coaching evaluations in personnel files would likely make it easier for the district to track performance over time.

“I think that [an evaluation] is a very valuable tool, not only for legality backup reasons but also for the coach to understand and have that time to sit down … to have that review,” she said.

Kristan Martin asked if administrators would be more involved in evaluating assistant coaches associated with head coaches that needed improvement. In most cases, Germany said head coaches would only need to make improvements in specific areas. But if a head coach was showing broad needs of improvement, he agreed administrators might have to step in for assistant coach evaluations.

In recent years, the number of teachers who also serve as coaches has declined. While Libby used to turn down coaching applications from non-staff members, Germany said roughly 70 percent of Libby coaches now come from outside of the district.

This trend has made it more difficult for both administrators to evaluate coaches and for coaches to adapt to the district’s requirements.

“All of the little things, catching the kids in the hallways, building relationships, understanding how eligibility and teachers work and grading works, … it’s a learning curve for them,” he said.

Germany noted that districts across the state have seen fewer teachers sign up for coaching roles.

In cases where residents and parents criticized coaches to the board, Germany asked members to reach out to him directly.

“I would beg of you to call and ask,” he said. “Just call and ask… I can tell you politically correctly if that’s true or not.”