Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Ciesla bails on coaching job

Lightning has struck twice, as John Ciesla has declined the position of head coach of the Prescott Curley Wolves.

Earlier this month Ciesla had tentatively accepted the position, but notified members of the Prescott School Board of his decision not to take the job Tuesday, May 21.

He is the second person to have accepted a position with the Prescott School District, then decline taking it in a month.

The first was Sherry Holliman, who had been hired as superintendent, but resigned less than a week later.

Ciesla said things didn't come together the way he wanted them to have in order for him to take the job.

"People in Prescott treated me the best," he said. "I couldn't ask anymore. But things weren't going to happen the way they needed to happen. I appreciate the time they spent."

Ron Wright, Prescott superintendent, said Ciesla turned the job down and never signed a contract.

According to Wright, Ciesla wanted to work on his master's degree, but wouldn't have been able to here.

"We have a committee looking for a new coach," he said.

Rich McGough, board president, said Ciesla wasn't ready to make the move to Prescott as he wanted to work on his master's degree.

Apparently, McGough said, there were problems with classes Ciesla could transfer and have accepted are colleges and universities in the area.

"I got the call at 10 a.m. Monday," McGough said. "We'll work through it. We tried to make things workable, but couldn't."

The committee looking for a new coach is: Wright, David Maxwell, George Odom and Jim Gober.

These men will check the references of other coaches who have expressed an interest at taking over the Wolves.

McGough said no headway has been made as far as finding a new superintendent, but the board is considering using in-house people to do the job in the interim.

The problem, he said, is superintendents tend to have multi-year contracts and at this point many boards may be reluctant to release them from their agreements.

In other business, Wright said enrollment for April dropped by eight students, putting the student population for the fourth quarter at 1,101.

This fluctuation, he said, isn't unusual, especially this time of year.

Several projects are nearing completion, he said. These include the McRae Middle School gym, the sidewalks at Prescott High School, having the color trim put on buildings at PHS, the girls softball field and getting the landscaping done at the new gym.

The Prescott District Education Association (PDEA) is planning a crusade to encourage former students to expand their education.

The district's Personnel Policy Committee (PPC) approved a plan to pay teachers for their unused sick days at 35 percent of their daily rate of pay.

Wright said this will cost the district when teachers retire, but will actually be beneficial in the long-run, as the teachers will not be taking off as much and fewer substitutes will be required.

Hyacinth Deon, director of instruction, said the Alternative Learning Education class has decided to return to the original policy and guidelines for attendance and participation in the ALE program.

There will be no "watering down" of the curriculum, as it's important to abide by the standards mandated by the state for the proper education of the students.

She gave the board a handout of a master schedule for PHS's going to a "flex" schedule.

In other business, the board hired Elizabeth Doggett as special education instructor. Doggett will be coming to Prescott from the Nevada District.