MINERAL RIDGE HIGH School board puts football coach on paid leave

Although on leave, Stevens will continue to teach.
By MARY R. SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MINERAL RIDGE -- After meeting nearly 45 minutes behind closed doors Wednesday with Mineral Ridge High School football coach Joseph Stevens, the Weathersfield Board of Education has not changed its mind.
Superintendent Rocco Adduci said in the regular board meeting that followed that Stevens will not be coaching for the remainder of the season.
He "has chosen not to resign" as head coach, however, and has been placed on paid administrative leave for the season, Adduci said.
Stevens is paid more than $4,000 for the one-year supplemental coaching contract.
About his case
The seventh- and eighth-grade social-studies teacher and third-year head coach was arrested July 20 in McDonald on charges of driving under the influence and reckless operation.
He pleaded no contest Aug. 13 in Niles Municipal Court to a lesser charge of failure to have physical control of a vehicle, McDonald Police Chief Lou Ronghi said Wednesday.
The charge of reckless operation was dismissed.
Stevens was found guilty of the lesser charge and ordered to pay $1,000 in court costs. He was given a suspended 30-day jail sentence.
Adduci said the board decided to place Stevens on paid leave because the procedure required by state law to strip him of his supplemental contract would have cost about $20,000 in legal fees.
Assistant coach Shawn Brown, who makes about $2,300 a year, will lead the Rams varsity this season, Adduci said.
Stevens will continue to teach at the middle school.
More than 55 people attended Wednesday's meeting, which forced the board to move from the library, where the meeting began, to the high school auditorium.
Contracts extended
The board extended the contracts of these administrators who have not had raises in a year and a half and are not scheduled to receive raises:
UCynthia Mulgrew, Seaborn Elementary principal, extended two years, to Aug. 31, 2008.
UMichael Hanshaw, high school principal, extended three years, through Aug. 31, 2008.
UDan Kiger, maintenance supervisor, extended five years, through June 30, 2008.
URon Knight, transportation coordinator, extended three years through June 30, 2008.
UKim Brunton, school nurse, extended three years, through June 30, 2008.
Adduci said extending the contracts was intended to show the board's support for the administrators.
The district is under a state-imposed "fiscal caution," and with the outcome of a 9.5-mill levy on the Nov. 4 ballot hanging in the balance, Adduci said, the district may face "difficult things that have to be done."