Parental Guidance Definitely Lacking

It’s happening again.

Different high school. Different coach. Different parents. Similar scenario.

Al Weil, Hart’s successful softball coach for 13 seasons, abruptly resigned from his position last month. Sources close to Weil said he was pressured to step down after several parents complained about their daughters being cut from the team.

Last summer, Alemany High girls’ basketball Coach Melissa Hearlihy lost her job after parents complained when their daughter was dismissed from the team. After a groundswell of support from players, alumni, rival coaches and members of the community, Hearlihy was reinstated.

Now it’s Weil’s turn.

“He’s been forced to resign,” said Tom Fortune, father of pitcher Amanda Fortune. “A handful of kids who don’t go to the school anymore were successful in getting rid of the coach.”

Weil, a physical education teacher at Hart for 28 years, acknowledged he wants to continue coaching but declined comment.

That leaves others to do the talking for him.

Fortune, whose daughter begins her junior year next month, has organized a campaign to get Weil reinstated. After only a few days, Fortune has solicited dozens of letters from rival coaches, former players and their parents who support Weil.

They include softball coaches Janet Sherman of Cal State Northridge and Lance Eddy of Canyon of Anaheim High, and Dennis Ford, who preceded Weil as Hart’s coach.

“[Weil] has done nothing but wonderful things for that program,” said Sherman, an assistant at Hart in 1988-89.

“One person, maybe two people, who have had a bad experience are coloring [the program] as a bad thing. It’s unfortunate that kids, the way they’re brought up these days, are taught to complain and complain until they get what they want.”

Kristina Carpenter-Jensen, a former Hart pitcher, wrote a two-page letter in support of Weil:

“On the day I walked onto the Jayhawk Softball Field at the University of Kansas, with a full-ride scholarship in my back pocket, the person I wanted to thank the most for getting me there was Al Weil.”

Fortune estimates he’ll have dozens more letters like Carpenter-Jensen’s when he speaks on Weil’s behalf to William S. Hart Union School District board members on Aug. 26.

For Fortune, Weil’s departure is personal because of the effect it will have on his daughter, the Indians’ ace the last two seasons.

“[Weil’s] gone and I have a daughter whose starting 11th grade in three weeks,” he said. “She’s had all kinds of success and he was pretty instrumental in getting her where she is.”

Fortune said he has talked with Hart administrators and school board members. After a meeting with Principal Gary Fuller on Monday, Fortune still had questions.

“[Fuller] wouldn’t answer me when I asked him if [Weil] was forced to resign,” Fortune said. “He . . . said it was a personnel matter.”

Fuller declined to say whether Weil was forced out or not, saying: “Al resigned for personal reasons. He submitted a letter that stated he was resigning for personal reasons and we accepted that resignation.”

Fuller said Weil asked for his job back on Tuesday.

Although nothing was resolved at their meeting, Fortune believes he got his point across to Fuller.

“I just let him know if he was going to take input from parents and students, he should take it from more than just the unhappy ones,” Fortune said.

Weil cut catcher Danni Socha and infielder Jackie Bailey from the team after winter tryouts.

Shortly thereafter, several parents went to Fuller and later to the school board with complaints about Weil, boys’ Athletic Director Mike Herrington said.

Bill Socha, Danni’s father, declined comment on the situation, saying only, “Let it be.”

The controversy didn’t seem to affect the team last season. The Indians won their first Foothill League title since 1992, lost to eventual Southern Section Division II champion Quartz Hill, 1-0, in the second round of playoffs and finished 20-7.

About seven weeks later, Weil handed his resignation to Fuller.

“To the people who support [the ousted players], is this what they wanted?” Fortune asked.

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THE BIG LEAGUES: Conejo Valley plays Venezuela today in the championship game of Big League Baseball’s World Series. C13