School board tables changing middle school coach
Several girls on present and past middle school softball teams at the Hillsborough Middle School asked the school board Oct. 28 to reinstate Rich Rosenblum as softball coach for next spring.
The board’s agenda that evening proposed hiring Mark Dubyna as head softball coach at the middle school, replacing Mr. Rosenblum, whom the agenda said had resigned.
The girls and two parents said they had been told by Mr. Rosenblum that he hadn’t been recommended for reappointment by the school’s principal and athletic director.
Several players past and present sung Mr. Rosenblum’s praises, calling him an “amazing coach… who was always there for me,” and was like a “father figure to all of us.”
”No teacher has ever touched me as he has,” said one girl. Another said she had had never met anyone with more passion for coaching than Mr. Rosenblum.
”He taught me more than how to catch a fly ball,” said another girl.
Parent John Sarik said parents and the girls hadn’t been given a reason for his imminent failure to be rehired. He noted Mr. Rosenblum’s record of something like 109-9 in nine seasons. The team won the middle school county championship last spring.
One parent, Jorge Cofino, who said he was a softball coach in community leagues and had a daughter on the school team, said he had met few coaches of more integrity, character and knowledge of the game and ability to teach it.
Mr. Sarik said he felt the personnel action was a fait accompli, but he urged the boar dot postpone a decision that night. Board President Thomas Kinst asked the board to pull the item from the night’s agenda and send it back to the personnel committee, which is what the board did.