Middle School Softball Coach Removal Delayed Again

Even as the Hillsborough Township Committee is preparing to present a second proclamation to the championship softball team he coached, Hillsborough Middle School Softball Head Coach Richard Rosenblum faced a second motion at the school board meeting Monday seeking to remove him from the post.

The motion, or rather pair of motions, would have installed HHS Assistant wrestling Coach Mark Dubyna as the softball coach and backfilled Dubyna's wrestling post with David Palmese.

But just as what happened at the board's Oct. 28 meeting, a group of former players and parents came to the meeting to urge the board not to make the change.

As the board prepared to vote on the motions, Superintendent Jorden Schiff tabled the motions changing coaches, sparing Rosenblum once again.

Parent Al Savarino, one of seven parents pressing the board to drop the motion, challenged the board to "make a decision that is right, that is fair, and that is in the best interests of our children."

"At this point, my confusion is—why are we here?" he asked. "What is it that Coach Rosenblum did that put us all this position?"

Saverino said he'd heard a new supervisor had been pushing for the change, which he noted pitted the new person against "all these people vested in this community."

In response to the query on the reason for the change, board member Greg Gillette elicited from Assistant Superintendent for Personnel Guy Whitlock a recounting of the rights of confidentiality district employees have during any personnel considerations at the board meetings. Whitlock said the employees can choose to have any hearings conducted in public, but without that request, the board cannot disclose any complaints or reasons for such recommendations.

At the last board meeting, the same motions were tabled and sent to the Personnel Committee for review before further action taken. Committee Chairman Chris Pulsifer said at the time no meeting was scheduled before last night's full board meeting, and no report was made, suggesting the committee did not meet and discuss the motions.