Over the last two weeks, we've followed the story of two youth baseball coaches who allegedly use name-calling and homophobic slurs to motivate their young baseball players. The two coaches were suspended for a year and then un-suspended. And now, they are suspended for a year again.
In another surprising turn of events, the Park Board on Thursday reversed its Oct. 27 stand on the appeals of suspended youth baseball coaches Scott Kaletha and Mike Schwanke, ruling the original suspensions would stand. "It's done," board president Phil Latchford said to the question of whether further appeals would be offered to Kaletha and Schwanke.
Over the last two weeks, we've followed the story of two youth baseball coaches who allegedly use name-calling and homophobic slurs to motivate their young baseball players. The two coaches were suspended for a year and then un-suspended. And now, they are suspended for a year again.
In another surprising turn of events, the Park Board on Thursday reversed its Oct. 27 stand on the appeals of suspended youth baseball coaches Scott Kaletha and Mike Schwanke, ruling the original suspensions would stand. "It's done," board president Phil Latchford said to the question of whether further appeals would be offered to Kaletha and Schwanke.
An attorney had pointed out to the Park Board after their 2-2 vote originally “overturning” the suspensions that their ruling was in violation of Robert’s Rules of Order, which are a widely accepted set of guidelines of how to run meetings and take votes. The Board had originally ruled that the 2-2 vote overturned the suspensions, but they should have ruled that it failed to overturn them.
"There's nothing in here about abiding by Robert's Rules of Order," Kaletha said, referring again to the letter about appeals.
The fact is, the 2-2 vote was on a motion to overturn the suspensions. Given that 50%-plus-1 votes did not support the motion, by any guidelines or rules of order, that should have meant the motion didn't pass.
I do wonder if part of this was the reaction the Board got from the community or other letter-writers. Thankfully, these two men won't be hurting any young boys with their hateful speech for at least a year.
Hat tip to Dee White.
