Editorial: Rule 10 Coaches

In the current public school climate of devastating budget cuts and programs being slashed left and right, a quiet problem in the availability of staff members may be holding more prevalence than we think—East’s staffing problems come down to a lack of people, not necessarily a lack of funding.

Around 10 years ago, a problem in acquiring applicants for East’s athletic coaching staff became apparent: there weren’t enough teachers within the building that were certified teachers by the district, who wanted to take on a extra coaching position. In this case, applicants from outside the building—and completely outside of the Shawnee Mission School District (SMSD) —were given the opportunity to apply for head coach and assistant coach positions, to work at the school as a side job of sorts. These “Rule 10” coaches, a title based off of the Kansas State High School Activity Association (KSHSAA) rule book, are, officially, “anyone who is certified in compliance with standards established by the Kansas State Board of Education” who are “eligible to coach in any activity under the jurisdiction of the KSHSAA.” Meaning that these are coaches employed to run athletic teams without being affiliated with any teaching position at East.

Now, we are seeing an even more prevalent indifference from the current teaching staff when coaching opportunities open up. At the beginning of this school year, when both the cheerleading and dance team head coach positions were up for grabs, no one who was already working within East was there to respond to the call.

“We had one applicant—that’s it. One applicant,” Dr. Krawitz said. An applicant who, while attending school away from East full-time during the day, is the essence of a Rule 10 coach, requiring practices to take place during evening hours for cheerleaders.

According to Dr. Krawitz, we would be without a variety of our athletic programs if we got rid of these Rule 10 coaches—all of East’s volleyball coaches are Rule 10, as well as all softball coaches. Two out of three baseball coaches, five out of the 10 football coaches, three out of the four girls’ basketball coaches and one out of the four boys’ basketball coaches are Rule 10. Get into soccer, and you find two out of the three as being Rule 10. Gymnastics? Both are Rule 10—and that’s just a taste.

So what happens to these programs if the often-short-term coaches turn away?

“If we don’t have people to fill the job, the program goes away. Literally,” Dr. Krawitz said. “So, is it possible in the future, even in Shawnee Mission, that some schools have cheerleaders and others don’t? Yep. Is it possible that certain levels of athletic teams may not exist because you don’t have coaches? Yep.”

However, the problem with the staff operating solely from within the East body is the added work load that current teachers have received. According to Dr. Krawitz, we have gone from 17 teachers this year who were teaching a sixth assignment to 44 teachers.

“So, if I’m a teacher who’s picked up another added class load, that’s another 25-30 papers I have to grade, tests I have to do,” Dr. Krawitz said. “People are saying, “Gosh, I don’t think I have time to do this. I don’t have time to devote to this in the manner that I would need to devote to it.”

As of now, we have to see the availability of Rule 10 staff members as a good thing. While the majority of our coaching staff at East is affiliated with the school through Rule 10, we need the extra help to keep our athletic teams.

“If we didn’t have them wanting to do this, if we didn’t have these outside people, we’d be in a world of hurt to keep these sports and activities going,” Dr. Krawitz said. “It’s just a tremendous amount of time,” Krawitz said. “The young people coming out of college, they just don’t want to give up that time.”

But the problem isn’t entirely a matter of the time commitment, though it’s definitely a factor—the real problem lies in the pay.

Dr. Krawitz recalls being the coach of three sports teams before his days at East, and the commitment that had to go into such a low-paying profession.

“My pay, if I broke it down by the hour, would have been 31 cents an hour,” Dr. Krawitz said. “Not many people are going to sign up for a job like that, so you have to love doing it.”

Luckily, being away from the school for most regular business hours doesn’t keep all Rule 10 coaches from being invested in the school. Since day one, 25-year swimming coach Wiley Wright has been working with students in the program to push them toward success—not once would you question his devotion to his teams.

“I think [Wright’s] reputation as a coach, as a motivator, speaks for itself,” Dr. Krawitz said, “and because of that I don’t think there’s been any affect [from him not being a teacher at East].”

More teachers should be “the exception to the rule,” like Wright has become. Investing time in the development of youth’s athletic programs is something that the coaching staff should be openly passionate about.

Dr. Krawitz also believes that the development of high school students has been on the back burner for those in charge of our public school system, a problem that seems to be reinforced by a lack of long-term teaching staff.

“Even in Kansas, our legislative body doesn’t really have a high perception of education and so they don’t believe that we need to be throwing money at the development of young people,” Dr. Krawitz said. “You kind of have to wonder: “They’re the future of the country, what do you want?”

Sadly, kids can’t be motivated to step up to their full potential without teachers and officials who are fully invested in their wellbeing.