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Brad Bush hired as new Chelsea High School Athletic Director, assistant principal

Photo by Lisa Carolin. xxx tells the Chelsea Board of Education about his Mentor program experience at Cherry Optometry.
Photo by Lisa Carolin. Jon Obenchain tells the Chelsea Board of Education about his Mentor program experience at Cherry Optometry.

(Publisher’s note: this story has been changed to include the full statement of Anne Mann prior to the vote on the new Chelsea High School athletic director and assistant principal.)

Story and photos by Lisa Carolin

Chelsea High School has a new athletic director and assistant principal.

On Wednesday, May 21, the Chelsea Board of Education unanimously approved Brad Bush for the position. (The vote was 6-0-because Board Trustee Laura Bush, who is married to Bush, abstained due to a conflict of interest.)

At the May 5 Board of Education meeting, in a 4-2 vote, the board voted to suspend the last sentence of Policy 1130 for the purpose of entertaining the superintendent’s recommendation for hire of the athletic director/assistant principal position.

Policy 1130 states, “Employees who have administrative contracts shall not be employed by the District as a coach, advisor, or for any other duties associated with co-curricular or extra-curricular activities.”

Board Member Anne Mann was one of the two who voted against the temporary suspension of the policy.

Here’s her full statement prior to the vote:  “As you know, at the May 5 School Board Meeting, I voted against suspending Policy 1130, which will not allow our administrators to take on the extra responsibility of coaching.

After many months of careful thought and consideration I based my decision on what I believed to be in the best interest of our administrators, our athletic department and our student/athletes.

I believe that Policy 1130 is an excellent policy and one which we should strive to reinstate in the future.

Moving forward and in a positive direction, I must trust in our administrators and our superintendent and support their decision that Mr. Bush is the best candidate to apply for the AD/AP position and that his dual role as Administrator and coach will not be detrimental to the athletic department nor the student/athletes that he will be responsible for, and I will support their recommendation to hire Brad in this capacity.

I wish him well and future success in his new role as AD/AP/head coach.”

There were 154 applicants for the job, following Jeremy Barkey’s resignation earlier this year. Barkey accepted a similar job at Skyline High School.

Bush has been an educator for the Chelsea School District since 1997. He served as the interim assistant principal at the high school two years ago. He has served as head varsity football head coach since 1997 and has led teams to the playoffs 14 times, which helped earn him Coach of the Year honors four times from the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association.

In other action, the school board unanimously approved the hiring of Ellen Kent as a psychologist at Chelsea High School. Kent has served as the interim school psychologist at the high school since the 2012-2013 school year.

Photo by Lisa Carolin. Drew Deppner talks about his experiences at Comfort Inn during his time in the mentor program.
Photo by Lisa Carolin. Drew Deppner talks about his experiences at Comfort Inn during his time in the mentor program.

Julie Deppner, executive director of instruction, said, “Ellen’s job performance has been exceptional. Her ability to relate with students, proactively communicate with families and facilitate services for our students make Ellen a great fit to our high school team.”

During a special presentation to the board, two Chelsea High School students talked about their experiences with the high school Mentorship Program.

Jon Obenchain did his mentorship with Cherry Optometry in Chelsea and told the board, “Dr. (Paula) Koch is a very quality over quantity doctor and I enjoy working under her. She has offered me a summer job as a technician or a lens cutter.”

Drew Deppner spent his mentorship with the Chelsea Comfort Inn.

“You have to be in the right mindset to do hotel work,” he told the board. “You need to do teamwork and have to listen to customers.”

The Chelsea Board of Education meets next on Monday, June 9 at 7 p.m.

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