School Officials OK Additional Track Coaches at East

A group of about a half-dozen concerned parents of Cherry Hill East track athletes got some good news at Tuesday night's school board meeting, with school officials moving to add coaches to a program that’s seen rapid growth in the last few years.

With just shy of 100 runners, jumpers and throwers out for winter track this season and just one paid coach with a couple of volunteers, parents raised concerns about supervision and instruction for team members.

Tom Taylor brought up a recent issue where head track coach Matt Cieslik had to stay with an injured athlete while a meet continued on around him.

“There’s a serious safety concern we have with the track program,” Taylor said. “We’re missing one critical element: We have one coach for 99 kids.”

While volunteers have helped fill in the gaps, Taylor questioned whether it was a wise move to rely on volunteers who can’t necessarily be at every meet.

It’s not only about the runners’ health and welfare, other parents said.

“Safety’s a huge issue, but for me, it’s learning,” Danny Clark said. “We’re cheating our kids out of scholarships...the kids deserve it. The kids need to learn the right way.”

What they ended up hearing from the school board was good news, if all not immediately good.

School administrators and the athletic directors from both Cherry Hill East and West were made aware of the problem in recent weeks, and had met to review various staffing options for the teams, school board President Kathy Judge said.

To address the immediate concerns, she said, they’re approving paid supervision coverage for the volunteer coaches for meets that require a considerable ride—like those at Toms River, which hosts the bulk of winter championship meets.

Long-term, there are changes coming to East’s track teams, as well, Judge said.

“We’ve agreed to add one coach for the winter program for ’13-’14,” Judge said. “We are slowly working this out.”

Beyond winter track at East, a second boys’ coach for the spring will continue this year, Judge said, and administrators are working on approving an additional girls’ track coach.