Parents express concerns with coach's accounting

The parents want more detailed accounting.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- Parents who are questioning fundraising accounts maintained by a coach asked the school board to postpone rehiring her Monday, but the board turned down the request.
Ronie Haurin, who is head softball and volleyball coach and also is a physical education teacher at C.H. Campbell Elementary School, was hired unanimously along with nine other coaches at a special board meeting Tuesday. After the parents made their request, the board went into a closed session to discuss the issue. When it returned, members voted on the hires, including Haurin, without comment.
The parents say they have been asking district administrators for three months to see accounting records from fundraisers the coach handled. They were meeting this evening with Rich Archer, the district's business manager, and they wanted the board to postpone the hiring until they had a chance to review records. Archer said he was going to give the group a record of an account that Haurin set up at Farmers Bank for the softball team's fundraiser money. She became head coach last year, and the records begin in March. They list revenues of 7,613.08 and expenses of 7,489.18.
Volleyball funds
Tom Porter, one of the parents, said they also want to see an accounting of money Haurin raised for the volleyball team, including money from a concession stand that was set up during games.
Haurin has no records for the stand. She said it was set up for convenience of "the few spectators that attend our matches." She has said the stand was not a moneymaker.
The parents are clashing with Haurin over what they say is harsh and unfair treatment of some players. They were upset in March when she said she no longer wanted to work with a parents' booster group that raised money for the softball team. The club had always given a voluntary accounting of fundraisers, but Haurin did not do so, Porter said.
Porter said parents raised their concerns at a meeting with the athletics director and the high school's assistant principal in August.
Greg Cooper, the district's athletics director, said he met with Haurin in September about the importance of communicating with players and parents. He said he sees nothing in her coaching style that "would cause undue concern."
Reviewed records
Archer said Haurin's records were reviewed, and he was satisfied that they were in order. He reported that to the parents, he said.
District administrators said that as of September, the district has a new policy.
"All coaches turn over to us anything they have. We are in receipt of all funds," district treasurer Pattie Kesner said. The remainder of the money in the Canfield Softball account, 123.90, was deposited in the board of education's account Oct. 26.
Kesner said that the district has canceled checks from the account Haurin opened at Farmers.
She said she believes the district will be able to account for the fundraiser money to the state auditor's office. The school's annual audit will be done "any time now," Archer said.
The parents group intends to turn its copies of accounting records over to a lawyer, Porter said.