Yucaipa Coaches Will Stay

Coaches of fall sports at Yucaipa have agreed to coach this season, avoiding an embarrassing situation within the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District.

Coaches sent a letter to the school district last month advising administrators that they would quit this week because of a proposed 20% reduction in their coaching stipends. In a resolution, coaches retained 100% of their stipend, but the number of total stipends was reduced among coaches who were not assigned to teams, said Principal Maureen Latham.

That resulted in the loss of three paid positions in football, and a reduction from 7.49 to 6.16 coaching stipends in the other five fall sports. Similar cuts will be made in other sports this school year.

“Every department budget at the school faced 20% cutbacks,” Latham said. “I still had to make a 20% reduction in the athletic budget. We did not want to cut athletic teams for students.

“The district asked them to sign a commitment letter to coach or not to coach, and all agreed to coach their athletes. It’s a strong, commendable gesture on their part.”

-- Martin Henderson

DeAnna Carson, a state finalist in the girls’ 100-meter high hurdles and long jump as a freshman at Moreno Valley Vista del Lago, has transferred to Long Beach Wilson.

Carson, who moved to Long Beach with her family this summer, placed seventh in the high hurdles and ninth in the long jump in the state meet after winning Division IV titles in those events in the Southern Section championships.

Bryan Harvey, a junior guard and an All-City selection last season at Carson, has transferred to Compton Dominguez. He had been suspended by Carson Coach Richard Masson this summer for academic reasons.