The Bellevue School district’s ban of former Bellevue High School football coach Butch Goncharoff violated his union rights. According to a Seattle Times report, the Public Employment Relations Commission ruled Friday that the 2016 hiring ban on Goncharoff and his assistant Pat Jones were unlawful.
The district handed Goncharoff and Jones a two-year ban in May of 2016 for rules violations following a Washington Interscholastic Activities Association investigation into the football program. The district also changed pay restrictions for summer employment that allegedly affected the coaches and forbid both from communicating with other coaches, parents, students, and individuals associated with the district.
The Public Employment Relations Commission ruling deemed those actions unlawful saying they should have been presented to the employee union for bargaining.
According to the story, the Bellevue School District released a statement Wednesday saying it was pleased the PERC “ruled in favor of the District in the majority of unfair labor practice claims made by the union, including but not limited to PERC’s findings that the District ‘…did not discriminate against (the coaches), did not unilaterally create a new summer season for coaching, did not refuse to bargain in good faith concerning employee wages, and that the union’s request for reinstatement of (the coaches) is not warranted …’ “
The release from the district also announced that “we recently learned that the former Head Coach’s lawsuit against the District was dismissed.”
Bellevue is entering the second year of a two-year postseason ban after playing a reduced schedule last season.
(KPUG – Doug Lange; Information from the Seattle Times used in this story)