“Your call is important to us… “The truth about bullshit.” — A book by Laura Penny
ACHTUNG: The following is not a “fair and balanced” article. It is an editorial by the editor.
Wayland Union School officials apparently have been prompted to decide that the hugely successful Wildcat bowling program drop one of its two coaches.
I hear tell the reason is “It’s a business decision.”
This threat was so significant that boys’ coach Sherry Rybiski Milusicak resigned, albeit with anger.
Ms. Miklusicak explained she will not compete with co-coach Eric Bottrall for this remaining post. She has too much respect for him. And she’s not at all pleased with school officials’ decision to cut a coaching position.
Miklusicak has been proud to coach the boys’ bowling team and she has been more than supportive of the girls’ squad. She regards the entire lot of them as part of a family.
This family over the past 10 years has produced a state champion and the extremely unusual situation in which two Wildcats could have done battle against each other for the state individual title. One of them was state runner-up.
Regardless, I have been a strong supporter of the bowling program because it’s another way to give teen-agers something positive to do, keeping them busy during afternoons fraught with latchkey kids problems. The program has been successful enough to gain much positive attention for the school district.
But it’s a business decision. That reminds me of one time Hastings Schools Supt. Carl Schoessel having printing for an upcoming school play done by an independent contractor rather than J-Ad Graphics. J-Ad Vice President Fred Jacobs was outraged when Schoessel told him, “It was a business decision.” Not long afterward, J-Ad refused to publish any information about the upcoming play and when Schoessel asked Jacobs why, he replied, “It was a business decision.”
In the acclaimed TV series, “The Wire,” Idris Elba explained to the mother of a young lad killed deliberately in prison, “It was nothing personal. It’s just business.”
The worst example was when Wayland Union Schools terminated superstar custodian Corky Doxey because he and his colleagues made too much money. Corky did a lot more than just clean the middle school. He looked out for the welfare of students, whom he knew well. He was told to simply leave his keys at the office and exit the building. It was a business decision.
And apparently Sherry Miklusicak is the latest victim of this wrongheaded business decision, which actually sends her an ugly message that what she’s been doing for the school district for 10 years doesn’t really matter. Money does.
It’s difficult to be loyal to an employer who would let you go just to save a few bucks. Not a lot of incentive to do a bang-up job.
