School board to consider additional coaching supplements
After a request for an assistant JV volleyball coach prompted a review of coaching supplements in the school system, the Macon County Board of Education is considering funding several additional assistant coaching positions.
In his review of athletic teams in Macon County Schools, Athletic Director Todd Gibbs found that along with the JV volleyball team that had requested an assistant coach, several other athletic teams did not have allotted funding for more than one coach.
Gibbs found that girls’ wrestling, which became sanctioned by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association as of the 2023-2024 school year, does not have an assistant coach, along with both the boys’ and girls’ tennis teams.
“We had a push a couple years ago to make sure every team had an assistant coach,” Gibbs said. “So we’re asking that you guys consider listing assistant coaches and supplements for each of those positions.”
In his review, Gibbs also found that the school system has no supplement listed for a swim coach at Highlands School, even though the school does have a swim team. The supplement for the head swim coach at Franklin High School is $2,261 and $744 for the assistant swim coach.
“We just suggest that the board do the same for Highlands School swimming, head coach and assistant coach,” said Gibbs.
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Board Member Hillary Wilkes, who represents the Highlands district, questioned whether the board should fund separate swimming and diving coaches since the sports are so different and don’t practice, or even always compete, together.
“We have two different individuals [coaching at Highlands School], one is doing swimming, one is doing diving,” said Wilkes. “The trick with the diving for the Highlands team is we have to physically go somewhere else to practice diving, we don’t do it and we can’t do it in town.”
The team uses facilities in Sylva and Asheville.
In total, the additional coaches would cost the school system $6,176 annually. That would pay for three additional assistant coaches at $698 each per season. The assistant coach for girls wrestling is recommended to earn a supplement of $1,077. The high school swimming head coach and assistant coach for Highlands School are recommended at the same level of those at Franklin High School — $2,261 and $744 respectively.
Chairman Jim Breedlove asked Gibbs whether all the teams listed in the supplement ask had put in requests for assistant coaches. Gibbs said that while the only team that had requested a supplement for an assistant coach was JV volleyball, other teams, like tennis, had assistant coaches who were volunteering and not receiving any supplement. Similarly, while the school system does not allocate funds for either a head or assistant swim coach at Highlands School, coaches have been volunteering without receiving any supplement.
“They’re a pretty active swim team run by volunteers,” said Wilkes of the Highlands swim team. “I do know our swim coach does work very hard and does middle school and high school … it’s a lot of work.”
The board did not decide about additional coaching supplements during its December meeting when the item was first brought up but said it would discuss the issue at its upcoming meeting.
“I’m not quite ready to make a decision on this tonight,” said Breedlove. “I’d like to see the number of athletes on these teams which shows the need for assistant coaches before we make a decision.”
The next meeting of the Macon County Board of Education will take place at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 27, at East Franklin Elementary.
