Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

AAA requires changes in coaching lineup

Following a complaint to the Arkansas Athletic Association, Gurdons softball team will see some changes in the dug out for the remaining term of the season.

Superintendent Bobby Smithson and the Gurdon School Board had hired Lindsey Kite as a volunteer softball coach to help Todd Lewis, head softball coach. Lewis is certified to be a softball coach. Kite is a graduate student at Southern Arkansas University out of Magnolia.

Smithson said Kite was known for her ability to teach fast pitching in girlss softball - something the team needed to be competitive.

Kite taught the girls fast pitch softball, and Smithson and the school board wanted the team to learn and develop.

Kite, a volunteer, received expense pay from a private source.

"Part of that Arkansas Education Law Book says if the pay is private, the volunteer can accept it. The Arkansas Athletic Association made us pull Kite from being in the dug out because they are interpreting the law to say volunteers can not receive any pay, pubic or private in source," Smithson said.

"Lindsey drove from Magnolia every day except Wednesday, and she made up for that by driving here on Saturday."

Smithson said Kite has been removed, even though the season is almost complete.

"We are in regionals right now and then we are done," he said.

"This would have never been questioned if we had sent Kite for weekend certification before hiring her and hired her as a coach instead of a volunteer, but the school board said we had enough coaches and went along with this volunteer plan to help the girls learn fast pitching, which they did."

Smithson said he does not know if Gurdon Schools will face any penalties for having paid Kite with private funds. However, he has agreed to let the Times know when he finds out.

"Once again, we have tried to comply but I may have been wrong about the private fund paying. It is questionable, but we will find out," Smithson said.

"All we could do in the meantime was to remove Lindsey and we did that."

Smithson said the type or severity of penalty associated with paying private funds to a volunteer coach is unknown to him.

Smithson said he asked David Terrell, the state auditing supervisor, about paying a volunteer coach with private funds and Terrell said he believed it would be legal.

"Terrell said he could not see the difference between a math consultant getting paid with private funds or a softball consultant getting paid with private funds," Smithson said.

"The last part of the law in the book we read said private funding is okay in a consultant situation.

He said the question apparently becomes whether a softball coach with fast pitch skills is a consultant.

Smithson said no ramifications have been given to Gurdon from the Athletic Association yet for Lindsey Kite "because the gray area of interpretation is still out."