The former varsity basketball coach at Coolidge Senior High School is entitled to have his job back after an arbitrator ruled that D.C. Public Schools wrongfully removed him. Bryan Crumpton’s principal told him the team’s poor record and the low college entrance rate of its players were grounds for his removal — measures that coaches are not typically evaluated on and that no other Coolidge coaches were kicked out for, according to the ruling.
Furthermore, Crumpton’s replacement was friendly with Principal L. Nelson Burton from their time together at M.M. Washington Career High School, and filled the Coolidge team with transfer students from his old high school — displacing Coolidge students and ruining their chances at playing college ball.
Crumpton, now athletic director at McKinley Technology High School in Northeast, is owed an unspecified amount of back pay with interest.
“This is a 100 percent win for the [Washington Teachers’ Union] and yet another example of DCPS’ culture of unfair terminations and flagrant disregard for the rules,” said Nathan Saunders, president of the teachers’ union.
Saunders called the players who lost their spots on the Coolidge team “the most unfortunate victims of the case.”
Burton decided not to reappoint Crumpton in May 2007, writing in a memo, “Your performance has not reached a level of satisfaction for several reasons including the following: team record, playoff appearances and the college entrance rate of players.”
But in the next sentence, he asked Crumpton to continue coaching golf and baseball, and said, “I would like to discuss further the possibility of you serving as assistant athletic director.”
Arbitrator Jerome Barrett ruled that Burton — who did not attend the case’s three hearings — never asserted that Crumpton was “unqualified” for the position, then replaced him with Vaughn Jones, a Department of Parks and Recreation employee. The union contract stipulates open positions be filled with DCPS employees unless none proves qualified.
Barrett also pointed out that no other team at Coolidge made playoffs that school year, yet those coaches kept their jobs.
“This constitutes a gross example of disparate treatment of coaches, and an abuse of discretion,” Barrett wrote in the 15-page ruling.
Union members testified that coaches are never evaluated on their win-loss records.
The varsity basketball team made the playoffs during Crumpton’s first four years at Coolidge, but failed to qualify for postseason play in 2006 and 2007. Before his removal, Crumpton told Burton that he had lost his strongest players to graduation and felt his team stood a better chance in 2008, as players matured.
The basketball team began winning after Jones took over.
DCPS’ director of labor management and employee relations argued that the team’s record of 2-19 in 2007 showed Crumpton’s performance as a coach had declined, and “he was simply not handling the team well during the period Principal Burton was able to view.”
DCPS officials did not respond to questions about whether they will appeal the arbitrator’s decision.
