Board out of line on coaching call

2/28/07

Football is important in Derby. The high school team has a long history of winning, and residents and city officials are passionate about the sport. But the city's school board went too far recently when it inserted itself into a debate over the future of head coach Carmen DiCenso. A record of 1-9 last season has some people frustrated, especially when they think back to the glory years when the team dominated opponents. A lot has changed, though, not least of which is the caliber of opponents in the mighty Southern Connecticut Conference, where many schools can field teams much larger and deeper than Derby's contingent.

DiCenso's supporters, including members of his team, came out passionately in his defense. The problems the team is facing, they said, are hardly his fault. But apart from the merits of their argument, the fact is that the school board should never have involved itself in the decision to begin with.

There is a process schools are to follow when tackling changes in the coaching ranks, as with any position on the education payroll. This procedure was bypassed in Derby, and time that could have been spent focusing on educational purposes was instead used for football. And with a school system with as many needs as Derby's, there are many more important matters to be discussed.

A citywide referendum in two weeks will determine whether a new middle school will be built; existing facilities are so overcrowded that portable classrooms have been budgeted. The high school's accreditation was even threatened last year over the issue. There have been a series of complaints over the schools' facilities department and questions of work on various improvements. And as parents speaking out in DiCenso's defense noted, the school system has a ways to go to catch up to some neighbors in academic standings.

So there is no shortage of issues for the board to tackle. The body ultimately decided to retain the coach for another year, but the outcome is beside the point. Without denying its emotional appeal to students, parents and fans, the decisions of the football program should not be made by the Board of Education.