VOORHEESVILLE – The Lady Blackbirds are looking for a leader.

Dennis McCormick has declined his appointment as coach of the Voorheesville girls’ varsity basketball team.
He declined the job in "a very nice letter" that the district received last week, said Superintendent Linda Langevin. "It was for personal reasons," she said.

McCormick, a physical education teacher at Voorheesville Elementary School who coached the girls’ junior varsity team for eight years, was appointed to the position by the school board at its Aug. 13 meeting after a lengthy public comment period.

Rumors had been surfacing around town about who the board would appoint to fill the post that was vacated when Coach John McClement resigned in June after he was approved to coach Albany High School’s varsity boys’ basketball team.

Many people believed that the board was going to appoint Robert Baron, violating the regulations of the state’s commissioner of education. The district’s athletic director, Joseph Sapienza, had recommended that the board appoint Baron, a former school board president who is not a certified teacher.
According to the state’s regulations, "A person who does not hold a current New York State teaching certificate may be employed as a temporary coach only if there are no certified teachers available with experience and qualifications to coach the team."

The open position has been posted on the district’s website since last Friday, and has also been posted internally, and advertised in local papers, Sapienza said yesterday.

Applications will be accepted through the athletic director’s office, he said.

The process leading up to the school board’s appointment of McCormick was heavily criticized. The large room in the high school where the Aug. 13 meeting was held was teeming with district residents and teachers.
Kathy Fiero, president of the Voorheesville Teachers’ Association, had "severe concerns" with the process, and expressed them to the board.
She explained that, after hearing that the board intended to appoint Baron, she informed Langevin and some board members of the commissioner’s regulations. [See two earlier articles on the issue at www.altamontenterprise.com under "archives" for Aug. 2 and Aug. 16 in 2007.]
"My issue is with the process," Fiero told The Enterprise following the school board meeting. "They seem to feel that they can make exceptions," she said.
The process this time, Langevin said, "is going to be more inclusive."
The screening and interview committee will be a "more comprehensive committee," said Sapienza. It will include Sapienza, Principal Mark Diefendorf, Associate Principal Michael Paolino, as well as another coach from the district, who has not yet been selected, Sapienza said.
Sapienza has "gotten the word out to the sports community," said Langevin. "We’re hoping we’ll have applicants," she added.
As of yesterday afternoon, Sapienza said that he had not yet received any applications. The two remaining applicants would have to "reapply in essence," he said.

Baron said this week that he is still interested in the job.

Sapienza said that he is hoping to have a recommendation to Langevin by the Sept. 10 school-board meeting.