A middle school track coach has resigned after an incident in which an athlete asked to view a practice schedule and instead reportedly saw inappropriate material.
With no discussion the Marysville Board of Education at its April meeting accepted the resignation of Bunsold Middle School Track Coach Brian Konopka, who does not teach in the district. Since then details surrounding the resignation have revealed that it was prompted by allegations from two students.
According to Marysville Superintendent Diane Mankins, the district was contacted by a parent claiming an athlete saw inappropriate material on the coach’s phone when he was attempting to access a practice schedule. The allegation was that when the phone’s screen opened from sleep mode, an image was visible to the student.
The superintendent did not give details on the nature of the image.
“We certainly don’t want kids exposed to that,” Mankins said.
A second student also made an allegation involving a separate incident in which the address of an inappropriate website had been visible on the coach’s phone.
Mankins said middle school principal Michelle Kaffenbarger and athletic director Scott Moyer brought Konopka in for a meeting about the allegations. During the few days between the allegations and the meeting, Konopka was asked not to be around any athletes or students.
When asked about the allegations, Konopka reportedly decided to resign from his position. Mankins said that because the matter did not involve student safety, there was no reason to probe the issue further.
“The investigation stopped at the resignation,” she said.
Mankins would not speculate if the details of the alleged incidents would have warranted the termination of the third-year coach in the track and girls cross country programs.
Mankins said school officials do not believe the students were shown the material on purpose.
“It was more a lack of good judgement,” the superintendent said.