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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 2020)
2 Wednesday, February 19, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O Splat! N School board protected coaches By Joey Hougham Guest Columnist Mr. SHS raised funds for Family Access Network with a pie-in-the-face event. PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK Editorial… A nation of laws The Founders of this nation feared and detested one thing above all others: arbitrary power. That9s why the United States of America was created to be a nation of laws, not of men. That9s why presidents should not intervene in judicial matters. It9s also why the City of Sisters should not have the power to determine what individual businesses can or can9t set up shop here. Cities establish zoning to set what types of businesses are allowed in a particular area. Once that zoning is established, the govern- ment cannot decide what individual business is <allowed.= If a business fits the zoning and code criteria, they have a right under the law to operate. Neither City staff, nor the Planning Commission, nor the City Council can decide that they like Business A and they don9t like Business B, so Business B is out of luck. And that9s as it should be. No gov- ernment should be able to arbitrarily dis- criminate and pick who gets to enter the marketplace. Not everybody is going to be happy with every outcome under such a system. But those who would seek satisfaction by allowing gov- ernment to dictate who wins and who loses in the local economy might do well to consider how unhappy they would be if that kind of arbitrary power was turned on them. Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Sunny Mostly Cloudy Mostly Sunny Partly Cloudy Snow Showers Partly Cloudy 47/23 49/27 53/30 53/33 40/27 40/22 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC Website: www.nuggetnews.com 442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759 Tel: 541-549-9941 | Fax: 541-549-9940 | editor@nuggetnews.com Postmaster: Send address changes to The Nugget Newspaper, P.O. Box 698, Sisters, OR 97759. Third Class Postage Paid at Sisters, Oregon. Editor in Chief: Jim Cornelius Production Manager: Leith Easterling Graphic Design: Jess Draper & Lisa May Community Marketing Partners: Vicki Curlett & Patti Jo Beal Classifieds & Circulation: Kema Clark Proofreader: Pete Rathbun Owner: J. Louis Mullen The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area. Third-class postage: one year, $55; six months (or less), $30. First-class postage: one year, $95; six months, $65. Published Weekly. ©2020 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. All advertising which appears in The Nugget is the property of The Nugget and may not be used without explicit permission. The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. assumes no liability or responsibility for information contained in advertisements, articles, stories, lists, calendar etc. within this publication. All submissions to The Nugget Newspaper will be treated as uncondition- ally assigned for publication and copyrighting purposes and subject to The Nugget Newspaper’s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially, that all rights are currently available, and that the material in no way infringes upon the rights of any person. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return or safety of artwork, photos, or manuscripts. The Sisters School Board took little action at their January 16 hearing concern- ing what actions should be taken against Brittaney and Tom Neibergall, the SHS girls basketball coaches. According to the Sisters School District9s own report, the Neibergalls caused psychological harm to several student athletes during the 2018-2019 sea- son when the coaches vio- lated the District9s policy against bullying, harassing, and intimidating students. During the executive session, the School Board was guided by the District9s legal counsel as well as the chairman9s arbitrary rules and procedures that restricted the information the Board members were able to consider. Ultimately, this led to inaction and a missed opportunity to stand up to such abuse and to sup- port student victims of such conduct. The School Board agreed that the Neibergall coaching style previously involved harassment, intimidation and bullying of several girls in violation of school policy. The Department of Health Services (DHS), as well as mental-health experts, define this type of behavior as abusive. The School Board agreed that the girls9 testi- mony, claiming they were abused, was credible and believable and were sorry that it happened. The School Board agreed that the Neibergalls9 coach- ing style interfered with the girls9 education and resulted in harm to the girls9 psycho- logical health. The School Board agreed that the athletic director, Gary Thorson, failed to obtain positive references as was previously reported by the District9s HR director. Mr. Thorson was warned by a highly respected Central Oregon school adminis- trator before the season even started about issues with Tom Neibergall, that he would bring <trouble= to the program. Thorson ignored those warnings and then failed to dis- close those warnings to investigators. The Board recognized that the Neibergall coach- ing style last season was inappropriate, but agreed to retain them as coaches for another season based on the strength of the admin- istration9s assurance that it had taken corrective action with the Neibergalls and that they had modified their coaching style. However, in the January 16 hearing, Tom Niebergall testified that the administration had not taken any corrective action and that he continues to apply the same approach to coaching as he always has. The retention of the Niebergalls was based on the false assumption that the administration had taken corrective action and that the Niebergalls had changed their ways. Tom Niebergall told the Board at the hear- ing that nobody had asked him to change and that he has not changed his ways. An untold piece of the story includes several stu- dent athletes that were significantly affected by the Neibergalls9 coaching behavior, to the point where they could not be around them because of fear and anxiety. This meant that they could not participate in a sport they had been involved with since elemen- tary school. The administration, through their action in keeping the coaches, left the victims with no other choice but to retreat while the coaches remained. The administration claimed they wanted the players back on the court but at the expense of facing their perpetrators which caused fear and anxi- ety. The District tried to mit- igate this issue by hiring a monitor to keep the coaches in check. The District asked the Houghams to sign a confidentiality provi- sion within a safety plan. Protecting the coaches was more important than the players. This is a case where the School District did not do the right thing by termi- nating the coaches. Now they9re having to navigate a potential legal mess that could have been eliminated from the beginning by pro- tecting the kids instead of coaches. Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.