ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – Escanaba Area Public Schools has issued a statement regarding the firing of the district’s gymnastics coach in March.
On Monday, a large crowd attended a School Board meeting in support of Theresa Pascoe, who coached Escanaba gymnastics for about 40 years. Pascoe told WZMQ 19 she was fired after having her sister, who formerly worked as a gymnastics coach, fill in for her at a practice.
According to Pascoe, Athletic Director Nate Zaremba called the situation a “liability” for the school district, saying that her sister had not gone through a background check. Pascoe received a termination letter in the following weeks. She believes her “mistake” did not warrant dismissal.
On Tuesday, District Superintendent Dr. Coby Fletcher published a release regarding Pascoe’s “non-renewal.”
“At Escanaba Area Public Schools, we generally do not comment publicly about personnel matters,” the release begins. “However, we believe in transparency and in keeping our community informed about matters impacting student programming. Given community concern expressed about the district’s decision to not renew the contract of our former gymnastics coach and given the former coach’s decision to discuss the matter publicly, the following are important factors our community should understand concerning the non-renewal decision.”
Dr. Fletcher continues, “As educators, the district has deep respect for everyone who dedicates their lives to serving children. However, all district employees (including coaches) commit to adhere to district policies, procedures, and expectations as a condition of continued employment. People may not always agree with these policies, but they exist for good reason. Publicly available records show that the district considered relieving the former coach of her coaching duties after the 23-24 school year because of concerns about the program co-mingling with other programs. Such co-mingling, in the Board’s reasoning, negatively impacts the opportunities and well-being of Escanaba students. The district decided instead to give the former coach another opportunity to improve and gave her clear instruction that there was to be no co-mingling of programs at other districts to avoid, among other concerns, MHSAA guidelines limiting scrimmages. Despite
this clear instruction, the district became aware of further incidents this most recent season.”
The “co-mingling” appears to refer to documentation from September of 2023, which states that Pascoe asked if she could coach gymnastics teams at both Escanaba and Bark River schools. Her actions “appeared to be an attempt to circumvent the Board’s decision to co-op with Bark River,” according to the documents. Pascoe’s request was denied.
Bark River launched its own gymnastics program, with documentation saying a coach at Pacoe’s private gym” became their coach and planned to host practices at that gym.
“This is a concern because most of the EHS gymnastics equipment has been moved to Ms. Pascoe’s gym,” the documents read.
However, the district agreed to the arrangement, noting that Pascoe could not coach Bark River students, let Bark River students use Escanaba equipment, or hold practice at the same time as Bark River.
In January of 2024, documentation shows that a parent and student complained about Pascoe to the Escanaba athletic director, saying the student had practiced with Bark River students at several practices.
After those discussions documents say Pascoe arraigned for Bark River’s gymnastics team to host a banquet in Escanaba facilities without proper notification or scheduling. Due to the ongoing issues, the district decided to “give Ms. Pascoe an opportunity to coach next year,” but noted that further issues would not be tolerated.
In his statement, Dr. Fletcher says some of the information circulating about the situation is false.
“For example,” he states, “several people have inaccurately claimed that the District prevented the former coach from holding a gymnastics banquet with her athletes. To the contrary, the former coach informed the Athletic Director of her plans to hold a banquet on the day before her end of season review with him. This was only two business days before the proposed date of the banquet. Despite the late notice, the district was fully prepared to keep information regarding the coach’s renewal status for next year confidential until after the banquet. Publicly available records show that the former coach immediately made her future status public and emailed the Athletic Director to cancel the banquet.”
The statement concludes, “We understand that coaching decisions like these stir strong feelings. The district made the non-renewal decision because ultimately, we believe it was in the best interests of our students. Despite the concerns expressed, the district appreciates the former coach’s many years of service, and we intend to move forward in ways that support our excellent athletic program.”
WZMQ 19 will have more with Dr. Fletcher on Wednesday, April 16. For more information on Monday’s meeting, click here.
