Pre-termination hearing set between Popich and Renton School District | Wrestling
Published 2:05 pm Monday, March 8, 2010
A pre-termination hearing between the Renton School District and Lindbergh wrestling coach Joe Popich is set for March 15.
District human resources recommended Popich be terminated as head wrestling coach at Lindbergh, according to a letter sent to Popich Feb. 19.
The Renton Reporter obtained the letter through a public records request.
Ray and Caroline Garcia originally brought to light accusations of misconduct within the team.
“The reasons for the recommended dismissal stem from complaints filed by Mr. and Mrs. Garcia regarding the treatment of their sons in the wrestling program, which included alleging that you supplied one of their sons and other students on the team with ‘pills’ last year,” the letter reads.
In a statement, Popich denied the district’s allegations and questioned the investigation.
“I never gave pills, medication or vitamins to any children,” the statement reads. “Though I understand the difficult position that the District is in, their comments and actions were premature and I feel if they had used an independent investigator the results would have been much different.”
Although Popich has not been terminated, he is not currently employed by the district since he is not a teacher and his coaching contract has run out for this season.
Popich plans to attend the hearing and “contest any negative result,” according to the statement.
Randy Matheson, district spokesman, said in an earlier interview that nearly the entire Lindbergh wrestling team signed a petition asking the district to reinstate Popich. The district “heard the students,” Matheson said at the time.
However, he said the district’s decision “will be based on the legal requirements for holding that job.”
The handbook given to every coach states that they do not give ointments, vitamins or medication to any student athlete, he said.
Such treatment can only be done by authorized personnel, such as a nurse and only if there is parental permission. The permission also has to include a statement from a medical professional, he said.
Part of the concern is giving a medication or vitamin that might cause an allergic reaction, he said.
“We understand that Coach Popich is a good coach,” Matheson said, adding the sport has grown at Lindbergh under his coaching.
“As we were going through our investigaiton, we found there was an error in judgment,” he said earlier.
The letter from the district has details, including that the investigation confirmed with six students that Popich offered and gave them vitamins during the 2008-09 wrestling season.
Paul Apostle, assistant superintendent for human resources for the district, and Anna Horton, assistant principal at Lindbergh, presented Popich with this information and sought his response.
At this time Popich denied that he “provided any student with vitamins or any other pills without parent permission.” Popich did say that he gave one student a bottle of pre-natal vitamins when his father was present during a tournament.
During the same interview Popich changed his statement to say he gave the vitamins directly to the student’s father, according to the district’s letter.
The investigation found Popich to be in violation of Renton School Board Policy 2151, Interscholastic Athletics, Section H.
The district informed Popich Feb. 9 that it was intending to take action to terminate his coaching position for “violation of district policies and procedures regardless of your stated intent to not violate district policy.”
Renton Reporter editor Dean Radford contributed to this report.
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