Saddleback Valley school district not commenting on AD controversy

If you want to know why parents get upset at school districts, take the example of what’s going on in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District, which includes Mission Viejo, El Toro, Laguna Hills and Trabuco Hills.

Troy Roelen, who has been the athletic director and basketball coach at Mission Viejo, said last week that he was told he had to choose whether he wanted to be the athletic director or the basketball coach. He said he couldn’t do both. He resigned as basketball coach.

Tammy Blakely, a spokeswoman for the district, was asked, “Can the athletic director coach?”

Her response: “I’m not able to comment on personnel issues.”

So there you have it. The school district isn’t saying whether there’s a new policy.

It’s important, because some longtime coaches, such as Todd Dixon, the basketball coach at El Toro, and Tim Ellis, the baseball coach at Laguna Hills, want to be athletic directors at their schools and apparently will have to stop coaching if what Roelen says is true.

Being an athletic director is no easy job. Some schools and districts think it’s good to make the athletic director only an administrator. But others have done well doing both.

At a minimum, the district shouldn’t be hiding behind it’s a “personnel issue” if a policy change has been made. The public deserves to know.