Hartselle High School

BOE investigates baseball

By Brent Maze and Clif Knight

The Hartselle Board of Education is investigating allegations of playing ineligible baseball players and possible ethics violations tied to the Hartselle baseball booster club.

Superintendent Mike Reed confirmed that he and the board of education are investigating personnel matter, but he could not comment on who the allegations are about at this time.

“Because this involves personnel, I am not at liberty to say specifically who is involved in this investigation,” Reed said. “I’d be violating laws.”

What Reed was able to confirm is that the program used at least one ineligible player and that there could be ethics violations tied to the Hartselle Baseball Boosters account, specifically that “volunteer coaches” and coaches who taught summer baseball camps may have been paid out of this account instead of through the school system’s payroll department.

These violations were brought to the board’s attention during a closed session by Joey and Kristi Jenkins who gave the board information about other ineligible players and bank records from the Hartselle baseball booster club’s account.

Following the meeting, School Board President Jennifer Sittason announced that school board member Monty Vest asked to be excused from the executive session. Vest has family ties to head baseball coach William Booth.

The board took no action after it emerged from the closed session.

The Jenkins are the parents of a former Hartselle baseball player. Kristi Jenkins said that this is not about her son not receiving playing time.

“This isn’t about playing time,” Jenkins said. “It’s all about right and wrong.”

During the Jenkins’ investigations, a bank account was uncovered separate from the baseball booster account managed by Hartselle High School.

Reed confirmed that the baseball boosters had an account through the high school and another account at a different bank, which is not the school system’s approved bank.

“That bank account has been closed as of the June 28,” Reed said. “Our CSFO has balanced the bank records and determined that there is no missing money.”

However, he did indicate that assistant coaches were paid out of that fund, which could result in ethics violations.

Hartselle High School has reported to the Alabama High School Athletic Association that it played an ineligible player on its JV baseball team during the 2011 season.

Philly High School Students travel to Germany! | High School Post ...

A group of 20 Hartselle High School exchange students and two adult chaperones are in Germany now to spend 12 days as guests in the homes of students who were guests of Hartselle families last month.

They left from Huntsville, flew to Philadelphia, Pa., then on to Frankfurt and Hanover, Germany on Monday.

The exchange group consists of juniors and seniors Preston Adams, Kethry Blaylock, Ian Brougham, Ciera Gilbert, Sloan Godsey, Hunter Grantland, Sam Harris, Jess Horton, Shelby Kaup, Aaron Lamb, Jessica Lewis, Seth Nuss, Alex Pettey, Elizabeth Russell, Blair Sittason, Megan Smith, Jeston Thompson, Tori Wilson, Aaron Wooley, 2011 graduate Samantha Davis and chaperones Jeff Hyche and Beth Long.

While in the company of their hosts, the students will be visitors in Clauthall-Zellerfeld, a small city located in the central Harz Mountain region of Germany. They will attend classes at Robert Koch Gymnasium Upper School, join in the festivities of a three-day national holiday and visit major tourist attractions. One of their whole group trips will take them to Berlin where they will tour the concentration camp where Werner Von Braun and other German scientists developed the V-2 rocket. In separate groups, they will visit Munich and Paris.

“Our students will be doing what the families with whom they are staying do on a regular basis,” said Hyche. “They’ll have no problem communicating because all German students as well as many of their parents are fluent in English.

“Our kids are really looking forward to the trip,” Hyche added. “They’ve already bonded and have been talking back and forth. One of the things host families are doing is sending friendship gifts to one another. I understand that Mountain Dew and cheese curls are two of the most requested items by the German students.”

Hyche said participation in the student exchange program will be a great asset to Hartselle students.

“It will open their eyes to what’s out there in the world,” he pointed out “and they will come home different individuals.

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