Director of Schools Mark Willoughby informed the school board at Thursday night's meeting that he has found a way to allow a previously unpaid assistant soccer coach to continue in the position now that it comes with a paycheck.

Rhonda Merriman is a guidance clerk at DCHS and long-time unpaid assistant soccer coach at the school. When the board adopted a budget for the current school year including funds for the position, it was widely assumed that Merriman would get the job.

However, after word spread that she had not been hired for the job that some board members felt they were creating for her, members of the DCHS girls soccer team attended last month's board of education meeting in support of Merriman, and one player read a prepared statement asking that Merriman remain as their assistant coach.

Willoughby said his main concern was that the system might have to pay overtime for the coaching job since Merriman is an hourly employee. The director said he contacted the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor after last month's meeting in an attempt to ensure that Merriman would not be due overtime for her assistant coaching duties.

"After our last board meeting, I contacted the federal wage and hour labor office. I went all the way to Washington before I got an answer," Willoughby said. "About ten years ago there was a lot of overtime paid in DeKalb County, and it really got sticky at that time, so that's what we were checking out. Ms. Rhonda Merriman has been doing this job as a volunteer assistant soccer coach for a long time. She does an excellent job and is an excellent employee. She is a super person. But according to Nathaniel Powell with the federal wage and hour labor office, we need to specify in our board minutes that the money that she receives would be a stipend, and her title would need to be volunteer assistant coach. We are not to ask her to do anything concerning the outside activities during the 40 hours that she works."

The director said the matter of overtime was the only concern he had in naming Merriman to the position.

"There was nothing against trying to keep Ms. Rhonda Merriman from doing this," he said. "It's just that financially I did not want to get the county in a bind. There's no telling how many hours the coach actually puts in, and we could have had to pay her or anybody else overtime at approximately $18 per hour, but I think the problem has been worked out if we can have a motion to classify the money that she receives as a stipend and her title as a volunteer assistant coach," said Willoughby

The board voted unanimously to follow Willoughby's recommendation.

A total of $20,330 was budgeted this year for new coaching positions, which include two DCHS assistant soccer coaches, one for the girls team and one for the boys team at $5,570, two assistant DMS soccer coaches at $2,790, a DMS assistant basketball coach at $1,395, a DMS/DWS cross-country track coach and two DCHS cross country track coaches at $5,000, an assistant DWS basketball coach at $1,395, an assistant DWS baseball coach at $1,395, and an assistant high school football coach at $2,785.

An Athletic Director ($5,000) and a DWS track coach ($2,500) were cut from the budget, and the DMS and DWS programs were merged.