Manchester athletics committee reviews fall coach-evaluation results, rolls out SportsU communication tool

Director Telch presented the Manchester School District's 2024 fall coach-evaluation summary at the athletics committee meeting, saying the district received 25 responses and used the results in annual coach reviews.

The summary, Telch said, included median scores for each evaluation category and generated several follow-up steps: a monthly newsletter with articles and videos for coach professional development, a spring in-person professional-development event at Memorial High School, and districtwide adoption of SportsU as a single communications platform for coaches, athletes and families.

The committee heard that the fall evaluations generated 25 responses overall and that athletic coordinators received full results for use in coach reviews. "Fall coaching evaluations, they were sent out. We received a 25 responses," Director Telch said, and described how coordinators use qualitative comments as coaching feedback while filtering out nonconstructive remarks.

Committee members asked whether any survey items had been skewed by circumstances such as students not returning to a sport. Committee member Parr asked specifically about the item "I, as parent or guardian, recommend this to others" and whether that score might be distorted; Telch said the district will tweak some questions (for example making fundraising questions optional) to clarify reasons behind lower scores.

Committee member Turner asked whether the survey included free-form comments; Telch said qualitative remarks were typically specific to individual coaches and that coordinators fold those comments into broader evaluation conversations. Telch said the district shares full results with athletic coordinators and follows up with coaches about consistent themes (for example, encouraging a preseason parent meeting when that was flagged by parents).

On communications, Telch described SportsU as a free app the district will use to centralize schedules, calendars, documents and photo galleries. "SportsU is completely free," Telch said, and added that the district and some coaches have already begun creating team pages. Committee members expressed support for using a single platform to reduce fragmentation across many team apps.

The committee did not take formal action on the evaluation report; the item was presented for information and the district said it will implement the communications and professional-development follow-ups described above.

The committee also discussed outreach to elementary programs and collecting registration emails for younger teams so future evaluations can include those programs.

The committee closed the item after asking staff to refine survey questions, continue sharing results with coordinators, and proceed with the spring professional-development event and SportsU rollout.