Whitko board votes 3-0 to discontinue assistant athletic director after heated incident; community urges leniency

The Whitko Community School Corp. school board voted 3-0 to discontinue the employment of assistant athletic director and head softball coach Scott Krieg following discussion and public comment on a March 5 incident at a tournament game.

Pamela Krieg, who identified herself as Scott Krieg’s wife and as a parent in the Whitko community, urged trustees to consider her husband’s years of service and to weigh context before finalizing employment action. “Scott has poured his heart into the school and the community,” she said, asking the board to “truly consider the man that Scott Krieg is and the difference he has made here.”

Coach and community member Jess Irons told the board she and others collected 278 petition signatures urging reconsideration and recommended alternatives to termination. “If mistakes were made in the moment of crisis, then address them with a suspension or mandatory training,” Irons said, adding that district staff failed to provide a police officer at the game and that administrators did not call authorities.

At the business meeting, trustees first considered a motion to reinstate Krieg as assistant athletic director and head softball coach on the condition of a two-week unpaid suspension and required de-escalation training. That motion was seconded and voted on but failed. A subsequent motion to accept the discontinuation of Krieg’s employment was moved, seconded, and approved by a 3-0 vote.

A community member, David Corres, said he would not speak to the specifics of Krieg’s case but defended Superintendent Dr. Corres’s leadership goals and said she will make difficult decisions to raise standards in the district.

Board discussion on the record included procedural handling of personnel items: the trustees added two employment hires to the consent agenda and then pulled the Krieg personnel item (6.6) for separate consideration before the motions and votes described above. The meeting minutes show the final discontinuation motion carried 3-0.

The record does not include names of the board members who moved or seconded the personnel motions, nor a roll-call listing of each board member’s individual vote in the transcript. The public speakers asked for clarity about training provided to staff for managing hostile spectator incidents and whether a clear action plan or expectation (including calling 911) had been in place.

The board did not announce any further personnel process details during the meeting. The next regular meeting of the board is scheduled for April 20, 2026, when other policy items will return for final readings.