The Townsend Star Proudly serving Broadwater County Since 1897

The Feb. 12 Townsend School Board meeting attracted a lot of attention. In addition to numerous teachers, a few parents, and several members of the press, the crowd swelled with over thirty students, most of whom were sporting T-shirts that read “Rauh IS Bulldog Football.”
The commotion came as a result of the Townsend School Board not renewing the contract with Travis Rauh to continue as the Bulldog football coach next year. Many feel that the board did not use the proper process and ultimately made a bad decision in the matter.
The group of students gathered at Tuesday’s meeting to express their displeasure with the school board’s decision not to renew Rauh’s contract. Ann Truesdell explained that many BHS students dissagreed with the decision and that they were “not ready to let this die.”
Parent and local sports photographer Paul Updike commented that he felt Rauh always had a positive attitude and was the type of teacher that Townsend should try to keep. He asked that the board reconsider their decision.
Staff members Mrs. Gilligan and Mrs.Diehl pointed out how they felt the board

did not follow proper policy in making their decision.
Mark McGinley addressed the matter on behalf of the school board. He explained that Rauh was not fired for disciplinary reasons, but rather they just chose not to renew his expired contract for another year. McGinley agreed that the process was flawed, but felt the right decision was made for the good of the school district. He said there were also many people in favor of their decision, although only one parent was present to confirm this agreement. The board member explained that the decision had been made and that decision will stand. “I made a judgement call,” stated McGinley, “and, I will live with the consequences.”
Travis Rauh showed up to say that he felt the board was misinformed with inaccurate information prior to their decision and he felt that they did not properly hear his side of any issues before making the decision to let him go. He stated that he felt the board “should do the right thing and has not done so at this time.”