Coaches don’t get their day> Old Town board shuts out veterans

Despite letters of support to a local newspaper, longtime Old Town High School softball coach Bob Ackley is still a coach without a team.

The 18-year softball coach, who was also a Leonard Middle School boys’ basketball coach, was in Denmark directing a children’s peace camp when the Old Town school board voted 4-3 not to reappoint him as a coach during a July 11 budget meeting.

Ackley and Richard Burger, a Leonard Middle School baseball coach, were on a numerically designated list of appointees for Union 90 extracurricular positions, according to Old Town High School principal Donald Sturgeon.

Both men had received recommendations from Sturgeon, Assistant Principal Lionel Bishop, interim Athletic Director Garry Spencer, and Union 90 Superintendent John Grady.

In a motion by assistant chairwoman Janice Clark, and seconded by board member Lynn Higgins, the list was approved with the exception of Ackley’s and Burger’s appointments, Sturgeon said.

Board chairwoman Linda McLeod and Marilyn Thompson joined Clark and Higgins in approving the motion, while Beverly Damien, Gerald Herlihy and Robert Bulay opposed the motion and favored the coaches.

“It came as a disappointment,” Sturgeon said. “We certainly hope there will be a reconsideration of that decision.”

That would take a motion from one of the four members in the majority, Grady said.

When contacted by the NEWS, McLeod, Thompson, Clark and Higgins declined to comment on the matter Tuesday afternoon.

“At this point I can’t comment,” McLeod said. “We’re talking about a person and I don’t want to get into any name-calling.”

Administration members and Ackley, who has a 184-112 career record, all pointed to the recent dismissal of Central Aroostook boys’ basketball coach Steve Shaw when discussing the board’s decision.

“It’s a similar type of thing as was in the paper morning with Central Aroostook,” Grady said. “Like Mark , I recommended the list and they reappointed all but two.”

Damien said she was surprised and upset by the vote, noting that she had “no idea” why Ackley and Burger were singled out on the list.

“What upsets me is that I don’t care who the person is, it’s the way it was done and, hopefully, we’ll set a policy so that it doesn’t happen in the future,” Damien said. “If a person has a problem, they should come to the full board and discuss it and allow the other side a chance to discuss it.”

Burger, a 12-year coach and Leonard Middle School teacher, returned from a month’s stay in England last week and declined comment on the situation.

Ackley described his reaction as “shocked” but pointed to letters to the editor published by The Penobscot Times, a weekly newspaper in Old Town, as a show of his community support.

“There’s been letters in the local paper, none against me up to this point,” Ackley said. “People have stopped me in the street to tell me that they supported me and appreciated my coaching and teaching.”

Wrote Betsy Clark of Old Town, in a letter published Aug. 10: “Coach Ackley is one of the most caring coaches we have in Old Town.”

In a letter published two weeks later, Todd Caron of Milford wrote: “One school board member has a personal vendetta against these men.”

Ackley pointed out that only one school board member had seen a softball game or practice this season, during which his team accumulated a 6-10 record, making it the first season in seven seasons the Indians didn’t make the playoffs.

“None of the school board members have spoken to me about my softball job,” he said. “I knew that there was a school board member that was not happy with the situation. That was one person who was not happy with me, and now it’s blown up to more than that.”