Athletic director reports low parent response to winter-sports survey; plans to improve communication and add coaching capacity

Athletic Director Brian Mallow presented results of a winter-sports parent survey covering wrestling, girls' basketball and boys' basketball and said only parents were surveyed this season, producing 23 responses.

Mallow told the board the district previously used a platform that made sport-by-sport analysis difficult, so he switched to Google Forms. He said student athletes were excluded in this round, which reduced response totals, and that low response rates can skew results. Mallow said he meets individually with coaches after each survey and reviews communication, staffing and support needs with them. For example, the district plans to hire a female wrestling coach in conjunction with expanding girls' wrestling, which may require an additional stipend. To improve parent communications, Mallow discussed using tools such as the Remind app so parents receive consistent notices rather than relying on students to relay information.

Why it matters: Parent and community feedback can guide program improvements, staffing and communication strategies in school athletics. Hiring additional coaching for girls' wrestling would support an emerging participation pathway.

Details and next steps: Mallow said coach evaluations occur using a coaching rubric, with preseason and post-season conversations. He highlighted near-term successes including five upcoming letters of intent signings and multiple academic all-state athletes across sports. The survey results and suggested improvements will be used to adjust communication and staffing for upcoming seasons.

Ending: The board discussed incentivizing higher survey participation and noted the athletic department will continue coach evaluations and work on parent communication methods.