Two weeks after a parent alleged that a Bowman County coach had left his team behind during a sporting event by driving away in a school bus, the issue was brought up briefly at a committee meeting this week, only to seemingly be shuffled away.
By BRYCE MARTIN
Pioneer Editor
Two weeks after a parent alleged that a Bowman County coach had left his team behind during a sporting event by driving away in a school bus, the issue was brought up briefly at a committee meeting this week, only to be seemingly shuffled away.
The Bowman County Extracurricular Activities Committee spent exactly 46 seconds, from start to finish, to discuss the situation on Tuesday.
“It’s been addressed,” Tyler Senn, activities director and high school principal, told members of the committee on Tuesday morning, using the same phrase that he did when discussing the matter during the Bowman County School Board regular meeting on May 10.
It was alleged during that meeting that the head coach left a boy’s golf meet during play, driving the school bus — and it wasn’t the first time it happened, according to the parent. The team was left without a chaperone and no other coaches were at the competition.
It was not specified how long he had left the event.
“In the interest of not knowing the full story I guess I would like to see the extracurricular committee visit with Tyler (Senn) and address it from there,” explained school board member Ann Fischer at the May 10 board meeting.
The board agreed not to act on the matter at that meeting and instead forwarded it to the school’s extracurricular activities committee.
“Mr. Duletski and I addressed the concerns,” Senn told committee members at this week’s meeting. “We met with the individual and we’re moving forward.”
Senn made no indication of what that detailed.
Joining Senn at the committee meeting were Stacy McGee, school board member; Jonathan Jahner, math teacher and coach; and Charmaine Martian, music teacher. No members of the public appeared.
“It’s a personnel matter,” Senn told the committee. “Addressing (such) things in a public meeting is tricky.”
Senn told The Pioneer following the committee meeting that he didn’t want to make any further comment on the matter. Though he indicated that nothing had been submitted into the coach’s disciplinary file and that the conversation Duletski and he held with the coach was only verbal, with no official documentation.
He also told The Pioneer after the meeting that addressing personnel matters in a public meeting could raise legality issues.
It is clearly stipulated in the North Dakota Open Records Act that discussion of personnel matters need be held during open meetings only, in which the public is able to be present. Items related to personnel should not be discussed in closed, executive sessions, excluding talk of negotiation strategy or when consulting with an attorney on pending or reasonably future litigation. The law applies to the whole gamut of public boards and committees.
Cody Jamtgaard, the coach in question, has served as head golf coach and assistant football coach since he joined the school as a physical education teacher in 2014.
Although both the school board and the extracurricular activities committee did not mention Jamtgaard by name, his identity was implied by use of his title as head golf coach.
Thank you for including the part of the ND Open Records Act.