The state-wide shutdown of schools has deprived students and teachers alike of the joys that traditionally occur in the spring, among them graduations, proms, awards ceremonies and an entire sports season.
Two and a half months ago, high school athletes were preparing for the first official day of the spring season, which was slated to begin March 16. With Governor Charlie Baker’s March 15 executive order shutting down schools through April 6, there was still a glimmer of hope that some part of the season might be salvaged. That hope was officially dashed April 21 with another executive order that extended school closures for the rest of the academic year.
While teachers and students knew their collective fates, the status of spring coaches – and their salaries – was, and in some cases, is still up in the air.
The bottom line in terms of whether or not coaches, who had yet to conduct a single second of practice, were nonetheless going to be paid, comes down to this: location, location, location.
Peabody High varsity coaches hit the jackpot. They are being paid 100 percent of their respective salaries.
“The thinking was that prior to the shutdown they had already put in some work for the season, like having signups, sharing workouts with their players, setting up non-league schedules, things like that,” said Peabody Athletic Director Bob Bua. “We made the decision early on although I’m not sure who made the final call, but we thought if we are paying everyone, ‘why not pay the coaches, too.’”
Bua said there was a lot of “hemming and hawing” on the issue within the Northeastern Conference and that he is still hearing rumors about the fate of the fall season. While no decisions have been made, Bua said that the Peabody plan is to “go full throttle in August.”
“That’s the thinking right now, but there are still so many unanswered questions about what is going to happen, so it really depends on what the schools decide to do,” Bua said. “It’s a slippery slope as if you have just one kid test positive, you have exposed the whole school.”
In Lynnfield, the spring coaches are being paid half their salary.
“We felt that because they had already spent time in preparation for the spring season, that it was only fair to provide some compensation for their work,” said Lynnfield High principal Bob Cleary. “It is still unclear what will happen with future seasons.”
Saugus Athletic Director Terri Pillsbury said Saugus has not yet made a decision and she does not know when any decision will be made.
Swampscott Athletic Director Kelly Farley said that, like Lynnfield and Peabody, consideration was given to coaches having put in time before the season. But the town is compensating coaches on a pro-rata basis based on time put in, giving varsity coaches 20 percent of their salaries, while sub-varsity coaches are not being paid at all.
“The thought is that most sub-varsity coaches don’t hit the ground running until the start of the season, whereas varsity coaches have done some work, like scheduling their non-conference games and having meetings” said Farley. “It’s tough because we just don’t know what we will be doing for the fall.”
At St. Mary’s in Lynn, all returning coaches, varsity and sub-varsity alike, are being paid their full salaries. New coaches under contract prior to Feb. 1, are slated to receive 50% of their salary.
“Most of our coaches were returning, so we are paying out about 98 percent of what we were going to pay,” said Athletic Director Jeff Newhall. “We have great coaches who do things all year long so it was a fairly easy decision for us to make.”
St. Mary’s Catholic Central League rival, Bishop Fenwick, has not yet made a decision on paying coaches, according to Athletic Director Dave Woods.
In Lynn, one coach, wishing to remain anonymous, said there has been no communication from the city regarding whether or not coaches will be paid in Lynn. The source went on to say that many coaches depend on their coaching stipends to pay their bills.
“I did not know anything about the pay for coaches (as) we were not told anything,” the source said. “I rely on that income for financial stability through the summer.”
