JANESVILLE — The Janesville School District will add full-time activities directors at each of its high schools.
Currently, Parker and Craig have athletic directors who also teach three classes and are “pseudo-administrators,†Superintendent Mark Holzman told school board members Tuesday night. Principals and assistant principals oversee activities. These full-time activities directors would replace the schools’ athletics directors.
These positions will take effect for the 2024-25 school year. The people who fill these positions will report to District Athletic Director Jim McClowry.
According to a memo McClowry wrote to the school board and Holzman, the primary function of the positions is to “provide leadership and instruction for staff and students participating in the multiple clubs, productions, activities, special events, and athletic programs offered at each school.â€
McClowry told the school board that research he did on large districts had models with activities directors at high schools like this.
“We have a lot of talented staff members at our high school level, but they are stretched very thin,†McClowery said.
The offers given will be on 260-day contracts. The activities directors will oversee interscholastic athletics and coordinate co-curricular activities. According to the job description, there will be no regular classroom teaching, or advisory or coaching assignments at any level associated with the positions. Evaluation of the activities director will be done by the athletic director and school principal.
Holzman suggested that having a designated administrator full-time managing activities could bring more opportunities to students because of that one person being in the role throughout the school day, unlike now when the individual has devote time to teaching duties part of the time.
In the memo, McClowry detailed how in the past two decades the district had multiple versions of approaching athletic director positions. That included full-time assistant principals taking those duties, retiring coaches having the duties, having a .40 teacher/.60 athletic director model and then the current model, .50 teacher/.50 athletic director.
School board member Kevin Murray said he was supportive of McClowry and what he has done for the athletic program, but was hesitant to vote for adding the positions with the potential of a referendum later this year.
“We are under a lot of pressure, as a board member I’m feeling a lot of pressure talking about referendums and multi-million dollar discussions. In my opinion, adding a new position when I’m going to ask the public to potentially approve an operating referendum just to maintain the status quo seems contrary to me,†Murray said.
The board approved the positions by a 6-3 vote.
The district is requiring a principal license and/or a masterÃÛèÖÊÓƵ degree in educational administration or “other relevant area of administration.â€
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