Cleveland Heights and University Heights Observatory

http://highschoolsports.cleveland.com/n ... oversight/

What a sad story. The football program, a source of pride in the community, was well on its way to making its first playoff appearance ever. Now it appears, pending appeal, that that's not going to happen. Such a shame.

I agree, this was an unfortunate story. And part of me really wants to take it out on the coach and the athletic director.

It seems clear that the mistake was theirs.

On the other hand, what these two people are doing for Heights and its athletic programs is wonderful. As a Heights parent, from what I can see of the athletic programs, they haven't been in better shape - and moving upward - in years. Maybe even going back to the late '70s when I was there. And the good feelings that successful extracurriculars create wash over the whole school district.

I've managed turnarounds in business and know that even a successful turnaround is punctuated with errors and bad moments. This is one of them. But I trust the folks responsible for the error are well aware of it and will not repeat it. And I'm glad they're going to stick around and continue doing all the other good work that they do.

_________________
Lifetime resident
FutureHeights Board Member (speaking on my own behalf)
Site Moderator

Because that's what school is all about, after all.

I can't believe the schools, while crying poormouth, spent money litigating this.
Talk about messed up priorities.

It's a GAME, people. One group of guys moved a ball more in a pasture than another group of guys, and we have marfinally literate students who think it's as if someone cured cancer.

Forget it and move on. This is like mourning the death of a soap opera character, or litigating the outcome of a game of checkers.

If only life were that simple.

Having coached for three years in the district before moving on this past season, I can tell you that while this was an unfortunate procedural error, the current AD is working exceptionally hard to correct years of neglect in that office. Unfortunately, a mistake was made, but I hope that that will not be her legacy.

In three years, she was my third AD, not counting fill-in interims, and the office is far more organized and responsive now than it has been in many years...you would have to go back to the Mike Delapinna era-- 8-10 years ago -- to see anything similar.

It started with a bad board decision to split AD responsibilities by gender, and then was compunded by a bad hire prior to Ms. Hughes coming on boartd.

It is that simple - kids are failing to gain basic literacy, and people are wringing their hands over games.

Bread and circuses, while Rome burns.