Sounds like they need to get rid of the school board

And the administration at York.

The mayor should not be commenting on this.

The School Board's job is not to hire and fire teachers and coaches. The Boards job is to oversee policies and to hire a superintendent who will manage the staff. Bigger problems start when the Board starts to micro manage. Mr Pruneau needs to do his job and address this matter with Diana Smith, not Jim Collins.

Please clean this mess up before my children get to York. What an embarrassment!

Thank you to Mayor DiCianni and the coaches for taking a stand on this. How many successful dedicated coaches will York continue to lose before the Board and the superintendent address the issue.

Rutter was a nice guy and very pleasant at games and events. In reality, he was a very poor administrator. Ask these same coaches for a list of accomplishments that can be attributed to Rutter.

Unbelievably unprofessional for the (thankfully ex-) mayor to be commenting at a school board meeting. He seems to think that he single-handedly makes the decisions in this town. If anything the school board members should be showing up at the city council meeting to tell Pete what a poor job he is doing for the schools (and the taxpayers) by cheating the schools out of tax revenues with the shady TIF deal he forced down their throat.

As a parent of a varsity athlete and former head coach at York this has been going on for years and it is time everyone takes notice!!!!

So a lot of the coaches at York are leaving - why?

Completely unprofessional. side note: Where are all of the Character Counts T-Shirts? You know, every household was suppose to get one...the money was collected by young people holding collection cans near the High School many months ago....Oh, and everyone gets a car decal too...My elderly mother gave $5.00 http://elmhurst.patch.com/articles/mayor-promotes-firefighter-to-lieutenant-announces-new-character-counts-president

From personal experience it starts with the principal that has a TIGHT lesh on everyone under her!

It's time Principal Smith is held accountable. I recall a few years ago when her job was in jeopardy there was a ground swell of support for her, but I don't know how anyone can look at this situation and conclude that we don't need new leadership at the high school. She was unqualified for the position to begin with, and now we are all seeing the results. Taxpayers are putting far too much into this district to place the high school in such uncapable hands. Let's find a real leader.

The Mayor probably (imagine that) got the contract for the Character Counts T shirts..........anybody see any of them?

pete's appearance at the School Board meeting speaks volumes about both his ignorance of the law and his morals. first, this is a personnel matter. if Rutter was asked to resign and he didn't have the stones to contest it (unlike Diana Smith who refused to be re-assigned by the crazy lady), then to publicly question this "resignation" is such a pathetic attempt at popularity its beyond belief. does this man have absolutely no scruples ? he brought his (public prayer) piety to the city council as his first order of business; and now he's trying to go out on a note as a champion for oppressed coaches (whose primary function is to teach by the way) in order to cover up the overwhelming rejection he experienced when the vote tallies on dual duty were counted. ... good riddance pious pete !

as a york parent my dealings with smith and rutter were a joke my sons senior yr was destroyed thanks to rutter no surprise hes leaving! if things dont change i will keep my daughter from attending york! damn shame

Jim I agree with you as to dicianni, but the bigger issue here is the school and the community. Decisions like this are not subject to a referendum, nor are they made for popularity. These are always tough decisions, but they are INTERNAL matters. Citizens elect school board, school board makes policy, staff carries out that policy, and hopefully all these actions are done with bottom line in mind: educating and enriching the young people of this community so they can lead fulfilling lives.

Now, for those complaining about this internal personnel matter, instead of whining, use it as a learning moment. Show the students, and the community, that you can handle the adversity and rise above it to meet the challenge of a new AD. Same thing should be said for that brinklemeister guy that was crying about the swim coach a few months ago; get over it, and get over yourself. You are not entitled to be part of the decision-making on these types of internal school issues.

DiCianni will make an even worse County Board member when he imagines he has more power than he thinks he has as a simple Mayor of a small city! The voters that voted for him must have really wanted him to go away as Mayor. The problem is they unleashed him on the rest of us in District 2! Geesh! Let's hope the District 2 board members get the 2 year terms when the "lottery for 2 or 4 year terms draws the districts from a hat."

Four Head Boy's Basketball coaches in 4 years!

Enough said!!!!!

so whats going on? cutting the fat? good

Standing behind the podium in the picture above, are 3 IHSA Hall of Fame York Coaches with 120 years of York head coaching experience. They have taught and coached thousands of our kids and have the respect of this community. For them to attend this Board meeting and carry a signed petition from York coaches/teachers in full support of AD John Rutter definitely gets my attention and makes me wonder what is going on at York. For the Board to then dismiss this simply as a personnel issue and not worthy of further study bothers me a great deal.

Intresting that tonights topic for the PTSA meeting is Athletics and Activities. Had Rudder did not hand in his resignation I am sure that the feedback from tonights meeting would have been used to terminate him. Masterful move by Ms. Smith. I wonder is she looking outside of York for her next job like she was at the end of last school year.

you are right Sol, there are way more important issues than the last hurrah for our pathetic ex-mayor. everyone here wants to throw ms smith under the bus. however, what's really lacking is an explanation as to who's really in charge of the athletic dept. over at York. yes, ms smith is the principal, but shouldn't the AD really be primarily responsible for the "administration/regulation" of coaches. imo, it is ms smith's core responsibility to improve the readiness of our students: primarily to enter college; and to a lesser extent the vocational field. one of the problems stems from the school's apparent inability to keep the coaches it wants to keep from leaving abruptly. take the examples of either biancalana or lech. both left abruptly. however, at least Lech had the class to give his notice after the season, not on the eve of the season. And even after Biancalana totally jilted York hs (the Career Planning & placement office), ms smith still professed her love and admiration for him. this left rutter in an impossible position. however, the whole basketball fiasco could have been avoided if the school mandated rolling two year contracts for all head coaches. this would end forever the situation where you are forced to hire someone on the eve of the season who is clearly not your first choice ... our students do deserve better.

How do we as taxpayers, residents and parents get Ms Smith out of the principal position at York? I thought the new superintendent was supposed to review her contravt his first year here in the district. Did that happen? She is a disgrace to our high school.

Some of you are getting way to personal. The insults and jabs directed at specific people are in poor taste. Not appropriate. Tar and feathering went out years ago. Come on folks, be grown ups.

York athletes and students are looking for some consistency and support. As much as the coaches have turned over, take a look at the high school staff. Ask them about the esprit de corps at the school, ask them about staff turnover and understand that the problems at the high school are not in the athletic department. It is getting harder and harder to continue to "baffle" the parents about York.

I agree with some of the writings on this "blog". It seems Diana Smith has done things that a portion of York students parents have wanted her let go for. I didn't understand why so many all of a sudden came to her rescue a few years ago after hearing how much of a pain she is. The board and administration was so screwed up at the time and the egos there wouldn't let anything be done, either on the board or the administration. This district as a whole used to be so much better not only in the way it was run but the scores for the kids, leave no child behind took care of that. Not that I think any child should be left behind but sooner or later the parents need to step up and either work with their kids or get some extra help for them. The amount of conspicious consumption in this town is rediculous. As far as our Mayor, who ever doesn't like the job he has done stand up and run for election or shut up. Granted, we have the right to disapprove of our elected officials, but things are getting a little personal. I've know Pete for almost 30 years and he is actually a real good guy, regardless of if I agree with everything he does as mayor, which I don't. He is in sales and promotes himself, yes, because that is his "other" job. He also promotes this town and has always had the best intensions for what he did. Some of you need to take a chill pill about him and concentrate on what this article is about, not him. That's the problem with most, can't stick with the subject.

This is a real shame for York and the community. I find it interesting that Mr.Rutter is leaving mid school year. Why not finish out the school year? What is going on at York?

Mr. Rutter was never supportive of all the York teams and coaches. Ask him how many of the York girls bowling meets he has attended since he's been here. The answer is none. Even last year when the team made it to state for the first time ever in York's history. An athletic director that can't be bothered to attend any events for an entire team including the state competition , doesn't seem to me to be very committed to the school, the coaches, or the athletes.

I've been reading with amusement the stories about York on this "media outlet" from some time. It seems to me, as an former Elmhurst resident, that you snobs at York are getting exactly what you deserve.

Cronan- read the article...it was a goal to get shirts and decals to residents. I am sure your mother made a donation to the cause because she believes in it. Bob and other repeat Pete obsessed people that sit behind their computers all day and wait for articles relating to Pete in any way... Last I checked they don't send out invites to school board meetings. Do you think that maybe just maybe the coaches that were standing behind him wanted him to be there. This online paper has turned off so many residents because of the constant negative contributors. Pete will always be a voice for issues when asked. He is a stand up guy that is loved by many!!! Focus on this issue and maybe just maybe do something to bring the change that you would like rather than criticize others. This is the first time that I have commented online about anything and it is because I am sick and tired of seeing the same 10 people putting down the residents that make Elmhurst one of the best places to live and raise a family. God bless you all!'

Cronan- that article was from Feb 2011. Are you seriously holding on to that, I am sure that character counts would get you a t shirt since it seems to be very important to you.

If an entire department has issues it is usually due to leadership. The school board needs to take a very long look at the current admin at York. York cannot be that unlucky to have lost so many good coaches. BTW Diane, the swim team coach did not quit. Integrity breeds loyalty, and lack of it breeds fear.

As a york senior, I would personally like to see an AD who was more vocal and took more initiative with each team. As far as Ms. Smith goes, she is far from perfect but the district could do much worse. At times she seems disconnected from the student body but I think she has done an above average job at disciplining students and maintaining order. The quality of york should not be determined by test scores, it should be determined by the quality of education each student receives. Quite frankly, the teachers at york have low turnover and are high quality. Bitch all you want about the athletic teams, the purpose of education should actually be the education.

As a tax paying resident and the parent of children in the school district, Pete has the same right to speak during the public comment period of a school board meeting as you and I! The fact that he was joined by coaches Jim Hedman, Joe Newton, Stan Reddel and Annette Schulte carries a lot of weight in my book. Shouldn't we all be questioning the loss of so many coaches in such a short time?
My family's been out of 205 for a while but we have only good things, make that great things to say about our experiences with Charlie Kern, Jason Reineke and Tom Babyar. If there is even the slightest possibility that they were pushed out of coaching in this district then this deserves an investigation. These are all people that have made a huge impact in my children's lives and I find it unfortunate and sad that our present and future young people won't have the same experience!. I personally want answers! What's driving them away?
(The Patch needs to stop accepting anonymous comments. It'll cut down on the riffraff. If someone isn't willing to sign their real name then their comment should be deleted!)

Karen Chadra is 'The Patch,' at least for this article. It is helpful to read who the 'author' is for The Patch articles.

Some people who remain anonymous b/c some may work in. the district. There is alot of fear in speaking out. If your name is found out...they make your life a living hell. I am a former employee and still have kids in the district and do not want them to pay for facts I have devulged. I think you, John and Lynn, would agree.

Regarding those that are staying anonymous I get it, I happen to be one of the few that doesn't care who knows how I feel. With all of that being said both of my girls a sophomore and senior were approached by a teacher (whom I like) to find out what my name was and was shown what I wrote yesterday! If he was looking I can promise you D. Smith is looking :)

Pete is still the mayor until December 6th. I hope he continues to fix the problems here in Elmhurst.

it's not clear from ms chadra's article whether the coaches letter was signed by 25 coaches or 25 head coaches; given that only 4 Head Coaches were standing at the podium, it's hard to know which is which ... perhaps she could clarify that. If it was signed by 25 Head Coaches, that's a pretty unanimous voice of support for rutter, and something that should make Pruneau shake his head.

Coach Lech didn't leave do to family reasons as a whole, just tired of all the promises that were not kept, under funding needed to run a quality and safe football program. The same can be said with all of the Athletic programs. If there is no money in the school budgets, then let the concerned parents and supporters raise funds for those programs. Just like every other school in our conferences do...its not rocket science.

I know that I am late to this, but I want to say first that much of this is awful. Principal Smith is a phenomenal leader of York, who has been defending the rights of students since she came into the position. Without the direction of Ms.Smith, Yorks fine arts department would be on life support. She has stood up to calls for lessening the budget in areas that matter to the school. And the final result of her standing her ground and supporting the arts, numerous all state musicians and singers, as well as programs which are top in the state, such as Yorks top Band, Orchestra and Choir. Also, the top of the line Drama Department. If you take Ms.Smith out of York, you take the 5 star music programs, as well as the top of the line dramas which bring the school money and attention.

Have a wider scope when you make such comments.