Athletic expansion depends on staffing





CORRECTION: Due to a reporting error, information about the employment status of two coaches and the workload carried by athletic director Steve Reaves was incorrect.

Coaches Paul Patteson (boys basketball, social studies) and Larry DeWitt (tennis, special education) have resigned from the district effective at the end of the day June 4. Reaves does teach three classes: two math and one physical education, all at the high school.

 

Port Aransas ISD Athletic Director Steve Reaves would like to expand sports programs, but until he can find the right people, he’s stymied. Program expansion is in limbo until Reaves can find people who are certified teachers and who can also fill slots in the coaching staff.

“I don’t have anybody lined up, and I’ve been searching for three months,” Reaves told school trustees on Thursday, May 13, during a discussion about district athletics.

At issue is whether baseball, softball and golf programs will expand from high school to middle school levels and whether the district wants to start a swimming program.

But Reaves isn’t even talking with people who aren’t well-qualified, and he has the additional problem that any coaches added to the staff must also be teaching qualified, and able to handle classroom subjects as well as athletics. Reaves himself is the only member of the athletic staff who has no classroom duties.

Softball coach Karen Hall, basketball coach Paul Patteson and tennis coach Larry DeWitt won’t return next year. Hall and DeWitt remain with the district but will not coach; Patteson has resigned from the district. And Reaves was short two coaches to start with.

That means to expand programs, he’ll have to add five coaches, all of whom also have classes to teach. That seems unlikely at this point.

“I think I hear the board saying we’re going to fill our vacancies and make our existing programs (work) the best we can,” Superintendent Dr. Sharon Doughty said during the discussion. “Then, we’ll only worry about adding programs if we can do that first.”

“We’re behind the effort to get some help, but that’s not the problem right now,” said trustee Rick Adams. “The problem is finding people.”

Reaves told the board part of the problem with starting a new swimming program, which would put 31A Port Aransas in competition with 4A schools, is that the swimming season overlaps other athletics.

“The season overlaps with cross-country, (and) they’d be doing Saturdays the first half of the basketball season, so the kids are going to have to look at it and choose,” he said.

Reaves said in an exploratory meeting on Wednesday, May 12, four students showed up to discuss a swimming program.

“I’m also looking at whether we’re adding kids to athletic programs, or just taking the same kids we have (in athletics already) and spreading them thinner. With a new sport, there’s no telling how many would sign up,” he said.

Reaves said the search for teachers to fill needed positions, and who can also coach, continues. The coming school year may see some shifts in assignments, he said.

“It’d be wonderful, in a perfect world, to let everybody do what they want and nothing else, but we don’t have that option,” he said.



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